Lil' Ninja
by Temari101
Summary: The Naruto Characters in elementary school. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji weren’t the most popular kids in school. In fact no one really liked them at all. They were always picking on them, and no one ever talked to them.
1. A New Year

It was the first day of a new school year at Konoha's elementary school. Naruto was going into grade three this year. He was walking to school with his friends Shikamaru and Choji. They lived about three blocks away, and their parents were working, so they couldn't take them to school. "Man, I hate school," said Shikamaru.

"Yeah, all the kids here are so mean," Choji replied. Naruto just walk with his hands behind his head day dreaming about the new school year.

"Hey, Naruto what do you think about school?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Oh, um, its ok I guess. Even though everyone is so mean to us," Naruto told them.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji weren't the most popular kids in school. In fact no one really liked them at all. They were always picking on them, and never talked to them.

_Flash back_

"Ok everyone; we have a new student joining us today. His name is Naruto Uzumaki," said the Kindergarten teacher.

"Hey, we should ask him to sit with us," Sakura whispered to Ino and Sasuke.

"Ok, he is kind of cute, and it will give us another boy to be with," Ino said. "But he will never be better then you Sasuke."

"Whatever," Sasuke said as a group of girls came over to them.

Naruto started walking over to an empty seat. "Hey Naruto, come join us!" he heard the blond girl with a ponytail say. But as he started to go over to her he saw _her._ She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. She had long pink hair and was smiling at him. He started to get nervous but kept going. As he got closer he saw a boy sitting with them. He had black hair that stuck up in the back, and he was surrounded by girls. When Naruto got closer the boy started to glare at him, and he stopped. "Well are to coming or not?" asked the blond. Naruto looked at her, then the black haired boy, and then the pink haired girl and shook his head.

Naruto turned around and saw a boy with black hair in a ponytail that looked like he was asleep on the desk, and a boy munching on chips. They were all alone in the corner. Naruto went over to them. "Can I sit with you?" he asked them.

"Sure, whatever," said the boy with his hair in a ponytail.

Naruto smiled. "Thank you," he said.

"Why don't you want to be with them?" asked the boy eating chips. "Didn't they ask you to be with them?"

"They did, but I rather sit with you two," Naruto told him.

"Don't like the boy with the black hair over there?" the boy with the ponytail asked.

"He looks mean," Naruto told him.

"He is," said the boy eating chips.

"By the way, my name is Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru told him. "And you made a good choice not going over there; you don't want to be part of that group of kids."

"And my name is Choji Akimichi," Choji told him.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto told them

After a while Naruto asked pointing, "So what are all those people's names?"

"Do we have to, it's too troublesome," Shikamaru said.

"Oh come on Shikamaru, he is new. We need to tell him," Choji said.

Shikamaru sighed. "Fine, but listen closely because I'm only going to say it once. That boy over there with the dog, that's Kiba Inuzuka. The girl beside him with no pupils is Hinata Hyuga. And the boy beside her is Shino Aburame," Shikamaru told him.

"And the girl over there with the blond hair in the ponytail is Ino Yamanaka. The pink haired girl is Sakura Haruno, and the boy is Sasuke Uchiha. They are our classes own bully's, and also the most popular people in the class," Choji continued. Then they named off all the other kids in the class.

"And finally," Shikamaru said. "Our Teachers name is Miss. Kurenai Yuhi, but she wants us to just call her Kurenai."

After getting to know each other a little better Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke came up to them. "You know, you can change who you want to be friends with now, before you only have _them_ as friends," Ino told him snobbishly looking to Shikamaru and Choji.

"Yeah come on Naruto, don't you want to be our friends?" Sakura asked sweetly.

Naruto looked at the two girls, then to Sasuke who was glaring at him. "No, I want to be Shikamaru's and Choji's friend," Naruto told them crossing his arms and looking away from them. Ino and Sakura stormed off with Sasuke following behind.

_End Flashback_

"Naruto, hey Naruto, are you listening?" Choji asked waving a hand in Naruto's face.

"Oh, yeah sorry, I was just thinking about the day we met and about how I was hated for being with you two," Naruto told them.

"Yeah, those kids were so troublesome, still are," Shikamaru told him.

"You never did tell me why they don't like you," Naruto told him.

"Well..." Choji said.

_Flashback_

"Hello students my name is Miss. Kurenai Yuhi, but call me Kurenai. Welcome to your first year at Konoha Elementary school. It is called Kindergarten, and it's made so that you can have fun, make new friends, and learn. Now go get to know each other," Kurenai told them, and went and sat down at her desk. Instantly Ino and Sakura got up and ran over to Sasuke.

"Hello my name is Ino Yamanaka," Ino said.

"And I'm Sakura Haruno," Sakura told him.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said.

"That's a nice name," Ino said.

"Whatever," Sasuke said.

"Oh Sasuke, you're so cool," Sakura told him.

"Back off Sakura, he's mine!" Ino yelled.

"No he's mine, Ino pig!" Sakura yelled back.

"Well at least I don't have a big ugly forehead!" Ino yelled back. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

Off in the corner Shikamaru was watching lazily as the two girls fought over the boy. He was wishing that the day could just end so he could go home, and that nap time would come faster. He soon got bored of the two girls fighting and turned his attention to another group of kids. "My name is Kiba Inuzuka, and you two look funny!" Kiba yelled pointing at a girl with no pupil's and a boy talking to some bugs.

"My name is Shino Aburame, and I wouldn't be talking dog boy," said Shino.

"Hey!" Kiba yelled at him.

"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga, I-I like y-your puppy," Hinata told him.

"Thank you, his name is Akamaru he is my best friend!" Kiba said happily letting Hinata pet Akamaru.

"Do they even let dogs in school?" Shino asked him.

"Well they never said we couldn't bring them. And what about bugs, wont kids get scared and kill them?" Kiba asked.

"They never said anything about bugs either," Shino told him.

Kiba smiled. "I like you two, even though you're weird and Akamaru likes you too," Kiba told them sitting down by Hinata. Hinata blushed, and Shino gave a small chuckle.

Shikamaru got bored watching that group too. He looked around the class some more, and a chubby boy caught his attention. He was sitting alone too, but Shikamaru thought it was too troublesome to get up and go over to him. He watched as the boy took out a bag of chips, got up and went over to where the two girls were fighting over Sasuke. "Hi, my name is Choji Akimichi, what are your names?" Choji asked them.

"Sakura Haruno," Sakura told him.

"Ino Yamanaka," Ino told him.

"Now if you don't mind we are in the middle of something!" They both yelled at him. So Choji went over to Sasuke.

"Hi I'm Choji-"

"I heard," Sasuke told him. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"It's nice to meet you Sasuke," Choji told him.

"Whatever," Sasuke said.

"That's kind of mean, I'm just being nice," Choji told him. "And those two girls are kind of annoying; don't they annoy you, fighting like that?" Sakura and Ino turned to him.

"What did you just say? Did you just insult me and my Sasuke?!" both girls yelled. "Get away from us you chip eating freak!"

After a failed attempt of making friends with Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke, Choji went over to the kid with the dog and his new friends. "Hi, I'm Choji Akimichi," Choji told them.

"Kiba Inuzuka."

"H-Hinata H-Hyuga."

"Shino Aburame."

"Hey, get away from my snacks!" Choji yelled at the Dog and bugs.

"Come on, at least let Akamaru have one," Kiba said.

"And my bugs," Shino told him.

"No, they are mine!" he yelled pushing the dog away making it hit the floor and yelp, and killing some of the bugs.

Hinata's eyes widened. "P-poor Akamaru!" she said. Then she got up, picked Akamaru up, and put him in her lap. "I-It's ok, I-I won't let t-that boy hurt you again."

"I'm going to kill you for this!" Kiba and Shino yelled at him getting up and walking over to him. He backed away slowly.

"I'm sorry!" he yelled.

Shikamaru got up and walk over lazily. "Back off guys, it was an accident, and your "pets" were kind of attacking him," he said lazily.

"Oh, Mr. Lazy wants to join the fight then?" Kiba asked.

"What's your name?" Shino asked.

"Shikamaru Nara and I don't like bullies," he told them. Now the whole class was watching.

"He hurt my best friend! And now you are going to pay too for sticking up for him!" Kiba yelled.

"No one kills my bugs!" Shino yelled at him.

"G-guy's p-please stop," Hinata said, but no one listened.

"Now take this Nara!" Kiba yelled swinging his fist.

Just then the teacher stepped in. "Ok, that will be enough! We don't allow bullying in this class room! Now go take your seats and draw quietly!" The teacher yelled at them.

"Sorry Kurenai," all the kids said, and went to their tables.

_End flashback_

Naruto looked at both of them in shock. "Wow," was all he could say.

"Yeah, well the kids at our school are troublesome," Shikamaru told him.

"But you did what you had to do; you helped someone in need, and got a great friendship out of it!" Naruto said happily.

"Yeah, I'm actually kind of happy that day happened now. Even though the whole school hates us," Choji said as they got to the main doors of the school.


	2. The New Kid

Choji, Shikamaru, and Naruto walked down the hallways of their small school. They had no idea where their new classroom was, and no one would help them. They asked a few kids in their grade, like Sakura and Hinata, who were walking around alone. But Sakura just stuck her noise up in the air and walked away, and Hinata went red and ran away. "These people are so not nice," Shikamaru said.

"Well we will find it soon, we never looked at this part of the school yet," Naruto told them. They walked swiftly down a hallway that was much smaller than the other ones.

"I don't remember this hallway being here last year," Choji said. "It's kind of creepy."

"They probably just put it in over the summer. The school is getting big and they need more room," Shikamaru told them as they got the end of the hall.

"Ah, here it is!" Naruto said happily looking at the door that said "grade 3A." on it.

"Wait, read the list before you go in, I heard we have two grade three classes this year," Shikamaru told him. So Naruto looked at the list on the door, it read:

Aburame Shino  
Akimichi Choji  
Haruno Sakura  
Hyuga Hinata  
Inuzuka Kiba  
Nara Shikamaru  
Uchiha Sasuke  
Uzumaki Naruto  
Yamanaka Ino

"We are in the same class!" Naruto said happily.

"Yeah, but all those mean, troublesome kids are too," Shikamaru reminded him.

"Even if we were in the other class, people still would be mean to us. Ino has the whole school against us," Choji told him.

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess you're right," he said.

As the three boys looked over the list one more time a voice came from behind them. "Get out of my way losers, you're blocking the door." They turned around and saw Sasuke.

"And what makes you think you're even in this class, chicken butt?!" Naruto asked.

"Hinata told me. And you know, making lame comments on my hair like that isn't going to do you any good," he told Naruto.

"Like I care," Naruto replied. "The whole school hates us already, might as well get _some_ fun out of it!"

"Whatever," Sasuke said pushing the three boys out of his way making them fall down.

"You're such a drag Uchiha," Shikamaru told him.

"And you're a lazy bum," Sasuke said walking into the classroom.

Soon everyone was in the class room. "Wow, you can really see how this class is divided," Choji said.

"Yeah, us three on one side, and everyone else on the other," Shikamaru said with a sigh as the teacher walked in.

"Ok class get settled," the teacher said. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, but you can call me Kakashi, I'm not too into formal things. I know you all know each other already because you were in the same class as each other every year so far, so we can skip the getting to know each other part of the day."

"What?" Everyone but Shikamaru, Naruto, and Choji said. "But that's the best part of the first day! Why can't we talk to our friends, some of us haven't seen our friends all summer!"

"Fine, fine, if it will make you all calm down and be quit then I will let you. But after you talk to your friends you are going to do what _I _want you to do. I am the teacher after all," Kakashi told them. Everyone cheered and thanked the teacher.

"Wow this school sucks," Shikamaru said lazily. Naruto and Choji nodded. "We should have switched schools this year; I heard there is one that's in a village not too far from here. Although that would mean we would have got up way earlier, and had to walk way longer."

"We can hold up here for three more years, it's not that bad. I mean at least they rather not talk to us then bully us," Choji said.

"Yeah, I mean the only problems are Sasuke and Kiba," Naruto said.

An hour later of everyone talking about their summer, and other random things the teacher called to them. "Class settle down!" Kakashi said. "I would like to introduce a new student." Everyone took a seat and went quit. They all looked at the red haired boy standing by their teacher. "This is Gaara. He is from our neighbouring country called Wind Country. He is 

from their capital village of Suna. Now I would like you to make Gaara feel at home and accepted, as you make all the other kids feel." As Kakashi said this Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji were trying to keep a laugh in. "Ok now that Gaara's introduction is over, I'm going to try something a little different," their teacher told them. "I'm going to split you into pairs, and it's going to be with someone you were not just talking to. So thanks for bagging to let me let you guys talk, because now I know who your friends are and how to split you." Everyone whinnied about their new teachers plan. "Now here are the groups:  
Hinata and Ino  
Shikamaru and Sasuke  
Choji and Kiba  
Sakura and Shino  
Naruto and Gaara.  
Now go off in your pairs, and I expect you to know one new thing about your partner when time is up."

After everyone was split up there wasn't much talking, except with Ino and Hinata. Ino was chatting up a storm and telling Hinata all about herself. After she had finished her never ending life story, she asked Hinata a few questions about herself. Over in the corner Sasuke and Shikamaru were sitting together. Shikamaru had his head on the table making it look like he was sleeping, and Sasuke was staring out the window. "Man I wish it was recess," Shikamaru said.

"Whatever," Sasuke replied.

"So Uchiha, tell me something about you so we can get this over with and don't have to talk to each other anymore," Shikamaru said.

"I have an older brother in grade six, and that's all you need to know. What about you Nara?" Sasuke asked.

"My family owns a zoo/lab," Shikamaru said falling asleep. Sasuke looked out the window again.

Over at Choji and Kiba there was a fight going on. "So, I get the chip eating freak as a partner," Kiba said and Akamaru growled.

"Can't you guys just get over what happened in Kindergarten?" Choji asked.

"No, now tell me something quick so I don't need to waste my time talking to you," Kiba said. And they told each other one thing about themselves.

Gaara sat by Naruto doodling in his note book he brought. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto told him. "How are you?" Gaara didn't say anything; he just continued to 

draw in his book. "What are you drawing?" he asked. Still Gaara never replied. "Well I'm just going to tell the class that you like drawing, and you can tell them I like Ramen!" Gaara just nodded.

"Ok class, time to tell everyone what you learned about each other, "Ino and Hinata you first." Kakashi said with a sigh.

"W-Well I learned t-that Yamanaka Ino really likes herself," Hinata said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"And I learned that Hyuga Hinata has a cousin in grade four and he lives with her, her father and her younger sister," Ino said.

"Ok good job. Next is Shikamaru and Sasuke," Kakashi said.

"Nara's parents own a zoo/lab," Sasuke said.

"Uchiha has a brother in grade six," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"Ok then, Choji and Kiba," Kakashi said.

"Akimichi Choji's family tests the food in the village before we get them in the stores, and tries to make our food the best it can be," Kiba said.

"Inuzuka Kiba's mom and older sister are veterinarians," Choji said.

"Very interesting, Sakura and Shino," Kakashi said.

"Aburame Shino's family owns the bug museum," Sakura said shuddering.

"Haruno Sakura also really likes herself," Shino said.

"Ah, and finally Gaara and Naruto," Kakashi said with a sigh of relief.

"Gaara likes to draw!" Naruto said happily

"Uzumaki Naruto likes Ramen," Gaara said without looking up from his paper.

"Well we have a very interesting class now don't we?" Kakashi asked. Everyone nodded. "Well it's about time for recess; everyone can go a few minutes early." Everyone cheered and left the class room.


	3. World Of Being Bullied, Population: 4

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji went to their usual spot outside. It was on a hill that had a big tree at the top that kept is shady. No one ever went there, but it was mostly because they got there first and now all the kids say it is infected. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji went and lied down on the hill and looked at the clouds. "It's so nice here, just watching the clouds. With no troublesome people," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, this is one of the only reasons that I'm glad everyone hates us, we get it all to ourselves," Choji said.

"I could lie here all day if we were allowed too," Naruto told them sitting up. He looked out into the field at all the kids playing. "But I still wish I could have a fun recess like them."

"Yeah," said Choji.

"Well I for one would stay here, even if we could play with them," Shikamaru said.

"Well we knew that already," Naruto laughed.

It was then that Naruto spotted Gaara way on the other end of the field sitting against the wall on the tarmac. "I'll be right back," Naruto said, and he went racing over to Gaara. As he got close he yelled Gaara's name and waved at him, but before he got to him Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino did.

"Hey Gaara, we were wondering if you would like to join us. We are playing a game of soccer," Sakura said. Gaara never said anything.

"Come on we need one more player," Ino told him.

"No you don't, your teams are even," Gaara told them not looking up from his note book.

"Well Kiba has been bagging us to let his dog play as an actual player, so it isn't even if we do. Tell him Sasuke," Sakura said.

"Whatever," Sasuke said. "If this loser doesn't want to join I have no problem with it."

Ino sighed. "Fine, I was just trying to get him before Naruto did," she told Sasuke. Gaara looked up from his book now and saw Naruto standing behind them.

"Let's just go," Sasuke said. And they left, pushing Naruto down as they walked by him.

"You guys are such jerks, and you're ugly too!" Naruto yelled at them.

"What did you say?!" Sakura and Ino yelled at him and started walking over to him.

"You better watch out, one of these days you're going to have the whole school beating you up," Sasuke told him.

"Like I care what you say, chicken butt!" Naruto yelled at him as Sakura and Ino got closer. Gaara closed his book, got up and went over to Naruto. Then he reached out his hand and helped him up. Ino and Sakura looked at Gaara stunned.

"What's wrong with you, why would you want to help him?" Sakura asked.

"I would rather help a person in need then join the low lives bullying the person," Gaara told them.

"What did you say?!" Ino asked angrily.

"I said I would rather be friends with a nice kid with the whole school hating him, then the popular kids bullying him. Even if that means I have to whole school against me too," Gaara told her.

"Whatever," Sasuke said giving Sakura and Ino the signal to come with him.

"Thank you," Naruto said.

"It was nothing. They are really mean, and I like how you aren't scared to stick up for yourself," Gaara told him.

"Yeah, well when you're as bullied and hated as me and my friends, then you can say whatever you want and it won't change a thing. You might get beat up a lot, but at least you can have fun going down," Naruto told him.

"There are more?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, Shikamaru and Choji, come with me, I'll take you to them and our favourite spot. It would be much nicer to draw over there then on the hot tarmac," Naruto told him and showed him the way to the hill.

"So that's what went to do," Choji said.

"Yeah, Gaara is now our new friend!" Naruto said happily.

"Wouldn't he rather have friends who don't have the whole school hating them?" Shikamaru asked.

"I would rather help a person in need then join the low lives bullying the person," Gaara told him.

"Ha, that's well said, thanks," Shikamaru said.

"I'm Choji Akimichi, and that is Shikamaru Nara," Choji told him.

"Yeah, food family and zoo/lab family," Gaara said.

"Yeah that's right," Shikamaru said as Gaara and Naruto sat down in the shade.

"So you guys just sit here all recess?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, not much you can do when no one wants to have anything to do with you," Choji told him lying back on to the grass.

"I see, and how long has this been going on?" he asked.

"Kindergarten," Naruto told him.

"That's a long time, what did you guys to that was so bad?" he asked.

"Well Choji wouldn't let Kiba and Shino's pets have any of his chips he was eating, so the bugs and dog attacked him. Then he pushed them away and when the dog hit the floor he got scared and yelped and he accidently killed some of the bugs. So then Kiba and Shino were going to start a fight with him and I stepped in to stop them from bullying him. So then they were going to start a fight with me too, but the teacher stepped in and stopped them. So that's how they came to hate us two," Shikamaru said with a sigh and lied back down on the grass. Gaara looked at Naruto.

"Oh, I came halfway through the year and went to sit with them, because they were alone, even though Ino and Sakura wanted me to sit with them and Sasuke. So I was instantly hated," Naruto told him lying down.

"Wow, this is a messed up school," Gaara said lying on the grass now too. "I mean I was hated at my school too, but they never bullied me or anything. They just ignored me, but my brother and sister helped me through it."

"You have a brother and sister?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, my brother is in grade four, and my sister is in grade five," Gaara told them.

"Well you lucky you had someone to help you through it at your old school," Choji said.

"You guys have each other to help you through it though, and now you have me too, and my brother and sister," Gaara told him.

"Are you sure they won't join the rest of the kids all everyone else?" Shikamaru asked.

"They never last time, and I know that won't this time," Gaara told him.

"That's good," Naruto said. "Well anyways, welcome to "the world to being bullied," population four."


	4. Gaara’s Talent

The teacher made the class start off with math right after they got back from recess. He told them they had to do at least a little learning today. "Ok class, we are going to do Mad Minutes. That is where I give you a cretin amount of time to answer and cretin amount of math problems. All the problems will be adding today, and tomorrow subtraction. This is to help you be able to do problems in your head as quick as possible. On the first two I will give you two minutes to get use to it, after that only a minute each. Now you have a sheet with twenty questions on it, and remember it is all adding. Ok, ready go!" Kakashi told them, and everyone picked up their pencils and started.

After the two minutes were up he took the sheets from them and took a glance over them. "You will get your mark back tomorrow, and from what I see you guys did pretty well for your first go. Although it was all grade one and two questions," He told them. "Tomorrow will be that same, and then the one minute ones will come. And then we will start with grade three problems. And if you guys are good at it, and getting bored we will start with grade four problems and multiplication and division." Everyone looked at him confused. Kakashi sighed. "I'll explain if we get there," he told them, and they nodded.

It was art class now, and they had to draw something they liked. Naruto was drawing a ramen cup, Shikamaru was drawing clouds, and Choji was drawing chips. "What are you drawing Gaara?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know yet," he told him.

"Well what do you like?" Choji asked.

"Things that are not appropriate for school," He told him.

Shikamaru looked at him surprised. "Like what?" he asked.

"Guns, knives, killing, blood, ghosts, dead people, evil things, and the devil," Gaara told him. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"Well," said Naruto. "What about your brother and sister?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess I could draw that," Gaara told him.

"It would be way better then the things you just named off. Then you won't get in trouble," Shikamaru told him. So Gaara got started on drawing.

"Ok class, these are all wonderful drawings, but there is one I like the most. It is way above the drawing level for your age. It is full of detail, shading, and you can tell clearly what it is." Kakashi told them. "Unlike some of these," he muttered to himself looking at Choji's, Shikamaru's, and Shino's, which were a bunch of dots that were supposed to be bugs, drawings. He took Gaara's and held it up. "This is Gaara's drawing everyone," he told them. Everyone gasped. It was so detailed that if any of the people in the room were to see Gaara's brother or sister in person they would know right away that it was them. Every part of the drawing was perfect, and you could really see the detail in the face and hair. "Ok class, now I'm going to hang everyone's drawings on the wall," and Kakashi started to pin them up.

Next was gym class. When they got to the gym Kakashi stopped them. "Ok class, I am not teaching you gym, there will be a different teacher for that, but I do teach you everything else. So you guys go in there and get to know your gym teacher and I'll be waiting for you in the class room when you get back," he told them. "Thank god they get a different teacher, this is going to be they only brake I get all day," Kakashi muttered to himself.

"Hello class, my name is Guy! And I will be your youthful gym teacher for the year!" he told the class with a giant smile.

"This teacher is freaky," Naruto whispered to Choji, Shikamaru, and Gaara. They all nodded.

"Now, I don't have anything planned for today. So this will be free time! Do whatever you want, as long as it is youthful and fun!" he told them. "But you can't use anything in the storage room because it is locked, and I lost the key," he told them with a little laugh, and then a sigh. "So um, go have fun with whatever you can find in here!"

"Well that's cheep, it's nothing but a big empty room," Naruto said sitting down on the bench.

"Oh well, I never liked doing anything in gym anyways," Shikamaru told him sitting down too. Then Gaara and Choji joined them.

"Well at least it's free time," Choji said as Guy came up to them.

"Now this isn't very youthful at all!" he told them. "Why don't you go play with the other kids, they are playing a youthful game of tag!"

"They don't want to play with us," Shikamaru told him with a sigh.

"I'm sure that's not true! Kids always want to play youthful games with each other!" Guy told him.

"We'll play if they come ask us to, without you telling them too," Gaara said coldly.

"You are not a very youthful bunch. What a waste of a kid's youth." Guy said walking away to watch the kids play tag.

After the teacher was out of earshot Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke came over to Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Gaara. "So, we heard the teacher say you are a waste," Ino said putting her hands on her hips.

"Even the teachers hate you," said Sakura. The boys just rolled their eyes.

"Are you sure you want to be friends with this bunch of losers Gaara? I mean you are kind of cute, and you have a good talent in drawing. We wouldn't want to see that go to waste with these losers," Ino told him.

"Yeah, these three don't deserve a friend like you. You deserve to have a life of popularity, and worship, right Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Whatever, I don't really care what anyone does. But it sure would be a waste for him to be friends with those losers," Sasuke said.

Gaara looked at the three kids, and then at his friends. "I'm fine here, thanks," he told Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke. Ino and Sakura stuck their noses up in the air and walked back to the game of tag, with Sasuke fallowing behind.

It was the end of the day, and almost everyone had gone home. The only people left in the school were the teachers, Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Sasuke, Itachi and some of his friends, and Sakura. Naruto, Choji, and Shikamaru would have been almost home by now, but they were waiting with Gaara and his brother and sister. They were waiting for their uncle to come pick them up. "Wow, you look exactly like the picture Gaara drew of you guys," Naruto said gazing at them as him and his friends walked up to them. Temari and Kankuro looked puzzled.

"You drew a picture of us?" Kankuro asked. Gaara nodded.

"We had to draw something we liked for art class," Choji told them.

"Really, Gaara that's so nice! How did people like it?" Temari asked happily.

"Everyone loved it, and the teacher said it was way above what our age level should be able to draw!" Naruto told them happily. Temari and Kankuro smiled.

"So I guess these are your friends?" Kankuro asked.

"Yeah, I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"  
"Choji Akimichi."  
"Shikamaru Nara."

"I'm glad you made some friends, and on your first day too," Temari said.

"Wait, I heard those names," Kankuro said. "The kids were talking about you today. Calling you losers and talking about how much they hate you."

"Yeah that's us, the losers of Konoha," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"Why, what happened?" Temari asked. So they told their story about Kindergarten.

"That's so mean of those kids, why can't they get over it?" Kankuro asked.

"Because that's the way they are," Shikamaru told him.

"Well at least you got great friends out of it. I know that those other kids will most likely not be friends forever, or they will fight a lot," Temari told them.

"Sakura and Ino already fight a lot," Choji said.

"See and real friends shouldn't fight all the time," Temari told them as Sakura came up to them.

"What do you want Sakura, come to bug us some more?" Shikamaru asked.

"No," she said sticking her tong out at him. "I came because I wanted to ask Gaara something."

"What?" Gaara asked coldly.

"Will you draw me a picture of a cherry blossom tree? I really like the way you draw, and I can't find a good cherry blossom picture to put on my wall. And if you can color it too I'll give you a dollar," she told him sweetly. Gaara looked at his friends.

"If you're going to get paid for it then you should do it," Naruto whispered to him.

"Fine," Gaara told her. "I'll have it for you tomorrow after school at this same time. But if you don't have the dollar you don't get it."

"Thank you, and don't tell Ino pig about this. I don't want anyone to know I was talking to you losers," Sakura said turning and walking the other way as Gaara's uncle pulled up. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara got in the car, waved good-bye, and the car pulled away.


	5. The Walk Home

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji started to walk home. They were taking the long way so they could stop at the store and get some candy to eat. When they were half a block away from the school they saw Sasuke, Itachi, and Itachi's friends. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji went into someone's front yard and hid behind the fence. They listened into the conversation the group was having. "But Itachi, you said I could walk home with you," Sasuke whined.

"Did you hear that guys, Sasuke whines," Naruto said in a whisper laughing. Shikamaru and Choji laughed a little too.

"I said that before my friends and I needed to go somewhere else," Itachi told him angrily.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked sadly.

"None of you business twerp," Kisame told him.

"We don't need to tell you anything," Sasori said.

"So leave us alone," Deidara told him to top it all off.

"Fine," Sasuke said sadly looking to the ground. "I'll walk home alone."

"That's a good little brother, you're old enough to be going alone anyways," Itachi said bending down to Sasuke's level. "I'll do something with you when I get home," he whispered to him, and then stood back up. "Ok guys, let's go," Itachi said, and him and his friends walked away.

"Do you think it's safe to come out now?" Naruto asked in a whisper to his friends.

"Well the big threats are gone, and all Sasuke can do is try to bug us. So I think we are good to leave now," Shikamaru told him.

"Good, because I'm getting hungry and really want that candy now," Choji said. So the three boys stood up and started walking towards the candy store again.

When they were on their way again Sasuke came up to them. "What are you losers doing?" he asked like the thing with his brother never happened. "Your houses are that way," he said pointing.

"It's none of your business what we are doing," Naruto told him.

"Yeah, we don't need to tell you anything," Choji said.

"So leave us alone," Shikamaru said taking the lines Itachi's friends had just used on him.

"Whatever," Sasuke said. Naruto could see he was close to crying.

"You guys, Sasuke looks really said," Naruto whispered to Choji, and Shikamaru.

"So, he has been mean to us since Kindergarten. He and his friends have sent us home in tears. Why should we care?" Shikamaru asked in a whisper back.

"Exactly, we know how it feels. We know what it's like to be pushed away. We should know better, and be the better people," Naruto told him.

"Naruto, you are always trying to be a good friend to everyone," Choji told him.

"It's just who I am," Naruto said with a smile. "So how about we are nice to him?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Fine," he said. The three boys turned to Sasuke.

"What we meant was. We are going to the store to buy some candy, would you like to come?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Naruto; his eyes were slightly less sad now.

"Sure, whatever," he said sticking his hands in his pockets and following them.

They got to the candy store, and looked at all the stuff in it. They were having a hard time choosing. "What do you think Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I think I have no money, so it doesn't matter," Sasuke told him.

"Well choose something, you and I can share," he told him with a smile. Shikamaru and Choji just rolled their eyes and went to a different part of the store.

Sasuke told Naruto he wanted some lollypops. So Naruto bought four lollypops and gave two to Sasuke. They left the store and started to walk home. "I thought your houses were that way," Sasuke said when he saw that Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji were behind him following him.

"They are, but there is a short cut up here," Choji told him.

"Oh, well stop walking behind me it's creepy. It's like your following me to my house," Sasuke told them.

"We could," Shikamaru said under his breath as they caught up to Sasuke.

"What was that Nara?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"I said, we need to cross the street here and go through that path," Shikamaru told him pointing to a pathway going in between the houses.

"Fine, but don't tell anyone about this," Sasuke told them as they crossed the street.

"Don't worry, we won't," Shikamaru told him.

"Oh, hey Naruto," Sasuke said. Naruto turned and looked at him. "Thanks," he said holding up the lollypops Naruto had bought him.

"No problem," Naruto said waving and smiling at him.

As they walked home Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto, you really have to stop being nice to everyone," he told him.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because you just wasted your money on him, and he is going to eat the candy and forget all about you being nice to him," he told him.

"I think he will remember. We talked to him when he was close to crying. We made him happy and feel wanted after his brother had left him. He will have to remember that," Naruto told him.

"I don't know," Shikamaru told him.

"And Sakura will remember Gaara making the picture for her because she will have it on her wall," he told him.

"Yeah but she won't tell people Gaara made it, she will say she bought it some were else. And Sasuke will probably tell people he had some extra money, instead of saying you bought the candy for him," Choji told him.

"Yeah, what's the point in doing something nice for someone if the person is just going to say nothing happened?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because it makes you feel good, and you know it happened. It doesn't matter what the other person says about it, because you know that you did something good," Naruto told them.

"You are one strange kid Naruto," Shikamaru told him as they got to the street their houses were on.


	6. Dodge Ball

The next morning wasn't any different from any other morning. No one talked to Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji. They got a few glances, or pushed into a wall, but nothing really serious. At recess they went to their usual spot. They sat there for a few minutes, when Sakura came over. "Do you have my picture?" she asked Gaara.

"I said I'd give it to you after school, same time if you had the money," Gaara told him.

"Well I don't have the money that's why I was asking, so I could get some from someone if you had it done," she told him angrily.

Gaara sighed. "If you don't have the money by the time school it over, I'm burning it," he told her. She stuck her noise in the air and walked away.

After recess the teacher was late. He walked into the class about a half hour later. "Sorry class, a little girl got hurt and I needed to help her," he said.

"Liar, it wouldn't take that long to help her to the nurses!" Kiba yelled.

"You're right it didn't take that long, but there was a hurt little girl. The rest of the time I was in the staff room because I thought that excuse would work," he said with a sigh. "Anyways, we are having art class again. Now I want you to draw what you want to be when you grow up." And with that everyone took out a sheet of paper and a pencil, and started drawing.

"Do we really have to do this?" Shikamaru asked. "I mean we did it in kindergarten."

"I know, it's not like we are going to change our minds," Chouji said.

"Aw come on guys, its fun," Naruto said happily drawing himself as president. Shikamaru and Chouji sighed. "What do you want to be Gaara?" Naruto asked.

Gaara smirked. "You'll see," he said.

After about an hour, which is when the class started getting noise again and Kakashi couldn't stand it, he told them to come up and tell everyone what they drew. Kiba was first. "When I grow up I want to be a veterinarian, or dog trainer like the rest of my family," he said holding up his picture.

"And why is that?" Kakashi asked.

"Because I love dogs and other animals too, but mostly dog," he said. Then he handed Kakashi the picture and went and sat back down. Then everyone else went. Shino wanted to be a bee keeper, Hinata wanted to be a house wife, Ino and Sakura wanted to be nurses, Sasuke wanted to be police man, Choji wanted to be a chef, Shikamaru wanted to work in a lab like his parents, 

and Naruto wanted to be president. Then it was Gaara's turn. He went up to the front and showed his picture. It was a picture of the world on fire, and Gaara smiling evilly looking down on it from behind it, and had his arms out.

"It's a very good detailed drawing Gaara," Kakashi told him. "But what does it mean?"

"Well it means that when I grow up, I want to be the evil dictator of the world and have everyone bow down to me and be my slaves," Gaara told him.

"Uh, ok very good Gaara. Give me that, and go sit back down," he said. Gaara smirked and did as he was told.

It was lunch now, and they were sitting outside were they usually did eating. The teachers didn't usually let the kids eat outside, but today was such a nice day that they said it would be alright. "That was a good drawing Gaara," Chouji said.

"We aren't going to have to be your slaves when you take over the world are we?" Naruto asked.

"Of cores you guys won't, but everyone else will," Gaara said with a smirk.

"The teacher didn't look to happy about the drawing though, what if he calls your uncle?" Shikamaru asked.

"My uncle will say it's the nicest thing I ever drew besides the one I did yesterday," Gaara said.

"Well as long as you don't get in trouble," Naruto said.

"Oh no, I won't, if anything I'll get a treat or something for doing better, I use to draw way worse things," Gaara told them.

Soon the kids were playing soccer again. Naruto watched the game and sighed. "What's wrong?" Chouji asked.

"Oh nothing," Naruto said.

"Are you watching the game, or a cretin girl?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto stared to blush. "The game!" he yelled. Gaara raised an eyebrow.

"Naruto likes Sakura, ever since Kindergarten," Shikamaru told him.

"I do not, I hate her! She is so mean!" he yelled.

"Whatever Naruto, it's not like we care," Gaara said. Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, and then continued to watch the game.

They sat there is silence doing their own thing for a few minutes before Gaara's brother and sister came over to them. "What are you guys doing here?" Gaara asked.

"We came to see what you guys do at recess and the lunch hour," Temari said with a smile.

"Don't you have some friends to be doing something with?" Shikamaru asked as he laid there looking at the clouds.

"Yes, we have lots of things we could be doing right now, but Temari wanted to come see you guys," Kankuro said with a sigh.

"If you stay over here with us everyone is going to start to hate you," Chouji said sadly.

"It doesn't matter," Temari said sitting by Shikamaru.

"Why is Naruto so into the game?" Kankuro asked.

"Oh, just some girl he likes is playing," Shikamaru said.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled throwing his lunchbox at Shikamaru, without looking from the game, and missing.

"So what about you do you like anyone?" Temari asked Shikamaru.

"No, girls are too troublesome," he told her.

"Ah I see, too bad. You're kind of cute," she said getting up. Shikamaru blushed faintly. "Well we better get going before we are seen with you losers," Temari said sticking out her tongue.

"See you after school Gaara," Kankuro said, and he and Temari walked away.

The bell rang and the four boys headed to class. "I think Gaara's sister likes you Shikamaru," Chouji said teasingly.

Shikamaru sighed. "I don't care, like I said, girls are troublesome," he told him.

"What do you think Gaara?" Naruto asked. Gaara didn't say anything. "Gaara," Naruto said again.

"No comment," Gaara said as they got into the class room.

When they got in Kakashi popped his head into the room and told them to go to gym. Then he disappeared. So they all got up and started to walk to the gym. When they got there Guy asked were their teacher was, but no one knew. "That Kakashi has been avoiding me all day! When I find him he is going to get an ear full!" Guy yelled clenching his fist. Everyone looked at him scared. Guy laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that," he said. Then he got serious. "Today we will be playing a youthful game of Dodge Ball," he told the class. "Now the object of the game is to get the whole other team out. Sounds easy right?" Everyone nodded. "Well it's not, because you see. When you get someone on the other team out they can get back in. When you get out you go against the wall, and have to stay in this area," he said pointing. "But you don't stay on your team's side, you go to the other team's side and continue to try and get them out. If you get someone you get to go back to your team, and the person you hit goes out. Got it?" he asked. Everyone nodded. Then he explained a bit more about the game and they started.

When the teams were chosen Guy blew his whistle and told them to start. Naruto, Gaara, Chouji, and Shikamaru were all on one team, along with Hinata. The other team was Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, Sakura, and Ino. "This should take them a while," Guy said to himself. "I think I'll go get a snack from the teachers' lounge." But before he could walk out of the door, Gaara's team told him they were done. "What that can't be," Guy said looking over to them. "How did you guys win so fast?" he asked looking at all the kids crowed around on their side of the gym.

"Gaara is really good at this game," Naruto said happily.

"Yeah too good, he shouldn't be allowed to play! It's not fair!" Ino and Sakura yelled.

"Gaara, you took them all out?" Guy asked. Gaara nodded. "Well you did a good job, why don't you sit out and rest a bit?" Guy asked. Gaara nodded.

"And that's how you get out of gym class," Gaara told his friends with a smirk as he went and sat on the bench. Then Guy blew his whistle again and everyone started to play.

Naruto thought it was unfair that the other team had one more person then them. "It's ok Naruto, Sakura and Ino don't do anything. So it's more like we have an extra person," Shikamaru told him as he stepped out of the way of a ball.

"Still, it's not fair," Naruto pouted.

Shikamaru sighed. "Watch this," he said picking up two balls. He threw them at Sakura and Ino who were talking away, and they went to the out area and continued to talk. "Is that better for you?" Shikamaru asked him.

"What if they come back?" Naruto asked as a ball just missed him.

"They won't, now come on we can beat these guys," Shikamaru told him, and they started to get serious and play.

It took the whole gym class to finish the game, just like Guy though, and in the end Naruto's team won. "That can't be, they cheated!" Kiba yelled.

"No, cheating would have been getting Gaara to play again after the teacher left," Shikamaru said.

"I can't believe we got beat by you losers!" Kiba yelled.

"Well maybe if Ino and Sakura weren't off talking then you might have won," Chouji said.

"Nah, they would have lost anyways because they suck," Naruto said.

"Your team, after school, beating," Shino said.

"W-What about m-me, I w-was on t-the team," Hanta said.

"Not you Hinata, I know you never cheated. But they did," Shino said.

"Yeah," Ino and Sakura said.

"N-No they n-never, leave t-them alone," Hinata said.

"Yes they did!" Kiba yelled.

"No they never!" Hinata yelled at him and started to cry. "I was on the team I know, now leave them alone! You're just sore losers!" Everyone went wide eyed.

"Wow," Ino and Sakura said.

"Fine," said Shino. "We will trust that they never because you were watching. We must just be having an off day."

"Thank you Hinata," Naruto said in a whisper as she walked by. "You were always the nicest one out of all of them." Hinata blushed and followed her friends back to the class room.

It was the end of the day now, and Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji were waiting at the front of the school. "If she doesn't get here before my uncle then she isn't getting the picture," Gaara said. They waited a few more minutes before Sakura finally came.

"Sorry I had to go home with Ino and then run back so she didn't suspect something," she said panting.

"Where do you live?" Chouji asked.

"None of your business, but its close," she said.

"Then why did you wait for your mom here yesterday?" he asked.

"Because I had a dentist appointment ok, and Ino didn't want to stay here and wait for my mom to come get me," she said angrily. "Now here is the money, where is my drawing?" she asked. Gaara pulled out some paper from his backpack and handed it to her. When she looked at it she went wide eyed. "This is the most beautiful cherry blossom tree I ever saw!" she yelled happily as Gaara's uncle pulled up. "Thank you," she said walking away.

"She is one strange kid," Temari said.

"Yeah, what do you see in her Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"I told you I don't like her!" he yelled.

"Sure you don't," Gaara said as him and his siblings got in the car.


	7. Sasuke crys?

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Chouji were now alone again. "So, are we going to the store today again, or are we going home?" Chouji asked.

"If we go today we can't go tomorrow because I don't get my allowance until after the weekend," Naruto said with a frown.

"Well let's go today then, and since its Friday tomorrow, we can stay here and play in the park," Shikamaru said.

"But we aren't allowed in the park," Naruto said. "The teachers said that there could be glass and stuff in the sand."

"Actually we aren't allowed in the park during school, no one said anything about after," he told him.

"I don't know," Naruto said.

"Let's just go to the store already! I want some candy!" Chouji yelled. Naruto and Shikamaru looked at him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing, let's go," Shikamaru said, and they headed down the sidewalk to the store.

They were almost there. They just had one more corner to turn to get to the store. When they got close to the corner they heard yelling. "But you never do anything with me anymore!" The three boys went to a fence and peeked around it. It was Sasuke, Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara. Sasuke was yelling at Itachi, and Itachi's friends were standing there watching.

"I do lots of stuff with you," Itachi told him calmly. "I played with you last night."

"But you still don't spend as much time with me as you use to!" Sasuke told him still yelling and close to crying.

"That's because I want to spend time with my friends. Don't you have friends you can play with?" Itachi asked.

"No, they are all annoying. And they don't want to play with me because they think I like being alone!" he told him.

"How about this then, I'll spend one whole day with you this weekend," Itachi told him.

"Really, you're not lying to make me feel better are you?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I promise you that I will," he told him.

"Come on Itachi let's go. If you are going to spend a whole day with him this weekend then we have a lot of stuff to do," Kisame said.

"Yeah, let's hurry it up already," Sasori said.

"I'm sick of listening to your baby brother cry!" Deidara yelled. Itachi said good-bye to Sasuke, and left with his friends.

Naruto sat down against the fence. He felt sorry for Sasuke. "Should we get going now?" Chouji asked.

"Naruto is probably going to ask Sasuke to come with us now again," Shikamaru said.

"Well yeah of cores," Naruto said.

"Well ok, after what just happened I can't blame you. I want to ask him to come too," he told him. Naruto smiled and the three boys walked over to Sasuke, who was whipping the tears from his eyes.

"What do you guys want?" Sasuke asked hiding his eyes.

"We were just wondering if you wanted to go to the store with us again," Naruto said with a smile. Sasuke looked up at them. He looked a little happier.

"Sure, whatever," he said sticking his hand in his pocket and following them.

They got to the store, went inside, and looked around. Soon some people from their school came in. Naruto looked and saw that it was Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. Naruto grabbed Sasuke and dragged him to somewhere the three kids wouldn't see them. "What are you doing?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Be quiet, they will see you with us," Naruto said.

"Who will?" Sasuke asked looking around the corner of a shelf. "Them?" he asked. Naruto nodded. "Well then I better buy something and leave. Thanks for telling me that they are here," Sasuke said.

"Wait, do you need money?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head and told him that Itachi had given him some money for not being able to be with him. Then he grabbed some lollypops from a shelf and went to the front to pay.

Naruto went over to Chouji and Shikamaru and told them to follow him. "Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because if you don't Kiba, Shino, and Hinata will see us and think we were here with Sasuke because Sasuke came from back here," Naruto told him.

"So what, you're trying to save Sasuke's popularity? I though you hated him," Chouji said.

"I don't hate him. I just use to be scared of him that's all," he told him.

"Naruto, you're too nice to people. Sasuke will get a taste of what he does to us if they think we are with him," Shikamaru said. Naruto shook his head and pulled them to a place to hide and listen to what the other kids were talking about.

"Hey Sasuke," Kiba said. "What are you doing here? Didn't you and your brother go home together?" he asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I walk home alone now while he goes with his friends," he told him.

"Lucky, my mom and dad said that I can't go anywhere alone. The only reason I can come here is because Shino and Hinata are here too, and my house is right across the street," he said.

"Whatever," Sasuke said.

"Are you always like that? Not caring about anything?" Shino asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"S-Sasuke is s-so cool," Hinata said blushing.

"Oh great, you're not falling for him too like the other girls, are you?" Kiba asked. Hinata shook her head still blushing.

"What would you do if Hinata liked you Sasuke?" Shino asked to see what Hinata and Sasuke would do. Sasuke just shrugged, paid, and walked out of the store. Hinata blushed and ran to the back of the store.

"Hinata wait come back!" Kiba yelled running after her. "Look what you did Shino that wasn't nice!"

"I was just having some fun. I didn't mean anything," he said following them.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji took them running to the back of the store as a chance to pay and get out. When they left the saw Sasuke waiting for them across the street leaning against a street light. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji went to the cross walk, looked both ways for cars, and then crossed the street. "Why did you wait for us?" Shikamaru asked. Sasuke just stuck his hands in his pocket and shrugged. "I really hate that about you, Uchiha. You never say anything, you just keep to yourself," he told him.

"Whatever, Nara," Sasuke said as they started to walk down the street.

"You know, you're not cool when you act like that," Chouji told him.

"Everyone else seems to think I'm cool when I do," Sasuke told him.

"Well we don't. And they probably don't either, and just don't say anything because your too popular and they are all scared of your brother," Shikamaru told him.

"Why would they be scared of him? He wouldn't hurt anyone," Sasuke told him.

"Well he does play with the biggest bullies in school. And I heard him tell some kids he was going to beat them up if he caught them playing in the grade six field," Naruto told him.

Sasuke stopped walking. "Don't say lies about my brother," Sasuke said holding his head down. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji stopped and looked at him. "Itachi wouldn't hurt anyone, or say something like that to anyone. He doesn't care about how the fields at our school are split up. He would let anyone play on it."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Shikamaru told him. "I can see him doing something like that."

"What do you know?!" Sasuke yelled looking up at them with tears in his eyes. "I know Itachi, I'm his little brother. He wouldn't do that, you're lying!"

"He wouldn't do that to you, and he wouldn't tell you if he did that because he knows you look up to him," Chouji said.

"Lies, it's all lies, you're just jealous of him! I'm never talking to you guys again! I've been holding back on the bullying done to you guys! From now on no holding back, I won't let you talk about my brother that way! I'm going to teach you a lesion!" Sasuke yelled crying his eyes out. He pushed the boys out of his way, dropped his candy on the ground, and ran down the street.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji walked down the short cut to their house. "I think we hit a soft spot on him," Shikamaru said.

"We are bad people," Naruto told him.

"And how are we bad people, look at him and what he just said to us," Chouji said.

"We kept going on about how we think his brother is a bully even though we saw that he was in pain that someone would say that about him," he told him.

"Well it's true, his brother is a bully," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, but continuing on when you know someone is in pain is just as bad as being a bully," he told him.

"Naruto you may be right, but still," he said.

"We mad someone cry, you guys. We kept going on and on until we made him cry and run home. I don't know about you two, but I feel really bad right now," Naruto said. Shikamaru and Chouji never said anything. They didn't know what to say to that. Naruto was right, but they didn't know what to do about it. The three boys walk the rest of the way home in silence, thinking about what they had just done.


	8. Saved by Hinata Again

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto got to school the next day but didn't want to go in. They didn't know if Sasuke was still mad at them and they didn't know what he was going to do when he saw them. They walked to the building slowly. "You know we don't have to go in. We can go hide somewhere all day," Naruto told them.

"We've put up with bullying every year since Kindergarten. I think we can handle whatever Sasuke has in store for us. It's probably won't be anything new," Shikamaru told him.

"I don't know. I kind of agree with Naruto, let's not go," Chouji said.

"What would your parent say if they heard you talking about skipping school?" The three boys heard a girl's voice say. They turned around and saw Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara.

"What did you guys do anyways that makes you not want to go?" Kankuro asked.

"Nothing," Naruto told them. Gaara gave him a look.

"We made Sasuke cry yesterday by saying bad things about his brother Itachi," Chouji blurted out. Naruto and Shikamaru looked at him, and he looked to the ground.

"You guys were bullying the bully?" Kankuro asked. They nodded. "Nice," he said with a smile. Temari hit him in the back of the head.

"That makes them just as bad as him. It's not nice at all," she said angrily. "Well anyways, you still have to go to school. Come on," she told the three boys walking behind them. They got to Gaara, Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru's class room a few secants later. "Now get into the class, I need to go, the grade five teacher doesn't like people being late," she said opening the door and then walked away.

The four boys when into the class room and sat at their usual table on the other side of the room from everyone. There were still a few minutes before class, and Sasuke was glaring at them from the other side of the room. "I don't like how he is looking at us," Chouji said.

"Just ignore him," Gaara said. "He will get bored if you don't pay attention." They took Gaara's advice and didn't pay attention to him.

It was recess now and Gaara, Chouji, Naruto, and Shikamaru were where they always were on the hill. They sat there and looked out into the field. "You know, I think it worked. Uchiha hasn't looked at us for a while," Shikamaru said.

"See I told you. It's always worked for me," Gaara told him pulling out his notebook to draw.

"I think you guys spoke too soon," Naruto said. "Sasuke is coming over here with Sakura and Ino." Gaara looked up from his book and sighed, then went back to drawing.

When the three kids got there Sakura and Ino started yelling at the top of their lungs. "How could you do that to our Sasuke, you won't get away with this!" they yelled at the boys.

"I can't believe you told them we made you cry. Isn't that going to wreck your tough guy act?" Shikamaru asked. Sakura and Ino looked at each other.

"You made him cry?" they asked turning to Sasuke. "He told us you tried to bully him, and made him mad at you guys."

"Well there was also some crying going on in there," he told them.

"Is that true Sasuke?" the girls asked. Sasuke shook his head. Then the girls turned to Shikamaru. "You liar!" they yelled.

"I am not lying," Shikamaru told them.

"Why should be believe you? You're a loser!" they yelled and stuck their noises in the air.

"It doesn't matter what happened," Sasuke said. "All that matters is that you guys are going to get it good." Gaara gave a chuckle. "What's wrong, don't think I'll do anything?" Sasuke asked him.

"I know you won't do anything," Gaara told him without looking up from his work. "You may talk and act tough, but you really wouldn't do anything. You're just trying to scare us."

"What makes you think I just won't get my brother to do something to you guys?" he asked.

"But then you would just be proving our point from yesterday that your brother is a bully," Shikamaru told him. Sasuke stuck his noise in the air.

"Whatever," he said and started to walk away with Ino fallowing.

"Oh yeah, thanks again for the picture Gaara," Sakura said quietly with a smile. Then she turned and started to run after Sasuke and Ino. "Wait up guys!" she yelled to them.

It was the end of the day again which meant it was the weekend. "So what are we going to do now?" Chouji asked as Gaara closed the door to his uncle's car and they drove away.

"I don't know," Naruto said.

"Want to play in the park?" Shikamaru asked.

"Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are playing in it though," Chouji said looking over in the direction of the park.

"So, they don't own it," he said. Chouji sighed.

"Fine," he said. The three boys headed to the park.

When they got there Kiba, Shino, and Hinata stopped what they were doing and looked at them. "What are you guys doing here?" Kiba asked.

"We came to play in the park, what else?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well you can't, we are," Shino said.

"You don't own the park you can't tell us to leave," he told him.

"Yes we can. Now if you don't leave us alone something bad is going to happen to you," Kiba told them.

"G-guys d-don't fight," Hinata said. "T-the park is b-big enough for e-everyone." Kiba frowned.

"Fine, but you're too nice Hinata," he said, and he and Shino went to the other side of the park to play.

"Thank you Hinata, you seem to always be helping us now," Naruto said with a smile.

"I-it's n-nothing," Hinata said blushing and running after Akamaru; who she was playing with before they got there.


	9. Kakashi's Late Again

It was Monday morning and everyone was in class. The teacher was late again and everyone was yelling and running around. "Why can't the teacher be on time for once?" Naruto asked.

"Because these kids are too troublesome to take care of," Shikamaru said as Akamaru ran by chasing some bugs.

"And their pets," Choji said with a sigh.

"Are we even allowed pets in the school?" Gaara asked.

"That's what I asked them, and they said no one said they couldn't have them," he told him. Gaara sighed and began to draw in his note book.

A few minutes later the teacher still wasn't in the class. By now everyone was wondering where he was and they were just staring at the door not moving or making a noise. "Everyone being quite is worse than them making all that noise. I hate the quite," Naruto said.

"But you were just saying they were too loud," Choji said.

"No, I said "Why can't the teacher be on time for once?" I never said anything about the noise," he told him. Gaara sighed and pushed his note book in front of him, and put his head down. Naruto looked over at it to see what he had drawn. "Is that Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino in a fire?" he asked. Gaara said a muffled yeah. "It's really good, and funny," Naruto told him. Gaara looked at him and saw the people whose names he had just said coming over. He grabbed his note book and closed it. Then hid it under his arms and put his head back down.

"We thought we heard our names come from over here," Kiba said.

"Well you wouldn't have heard them if you were still making noise. And why is Hinata over here, we never said her name," Gaara said kind of muffled. Hinata blushed.

"So why were you losers talking about us then?" Sakura and Ino asked.

"None of your business," Naruto said.

"Oh, I think it is since you said our names," Sasuke said.

"Go away Uchiha," Shikamaru said.

"I'd watch myself if I were you guys. No good is going to come from you guys talking about us," Shino said.

"It doesn't matter. We rather talk about you and have fun even if you're bullying us then not get any fun out of it," Choji said.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sakura and Ino asked angrily.

"It means that since we are going to get bullied anyways, we might as well have some fun while doing it," Shikamaru told them.

"G-guys stop f-fighting," Hinata said. But they just started yelling more. "Stop it, I hate fighting!" she yelled starting to cry and running out of the room with Akamaru following.

"Look what you did!" Kiba yelled at Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Gaara. And he and Shino ran after her.

"You guys are lucky the teacher isn't here, or you would be in big trouble!" Sakura and Ino yelled at them sticking their noises in the air and walking away. Sasuke glared at the four boys and then walked away.

The teacher came into the room a few minutes later with Kiba and Shino. "Well it seems that we had a little problem while I was gone," Kakashi said with a nervous laugh scratching the back of his head.

"There wouldn't have been a problem if you were on time," Naruto said under his breath angrily.

"Yes well, I had to do something's before I got here," he told him. Everyone shook their heads. "It's true, I had to print out filed trip forms for you guys," he said holding up some forms. "We are going to an art museum."

"And that took you like five thousand hours?" Naruto asked.

"No, it only took me one and a half. But I was doing other things too," he told him.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Reading a book that you kids don't need to know about until you're older," he said really fast making it sound like all one word. Then he coughed a little. "Anyways, I'll pass these out and you get your parents to sign them," he told the kids as he passed them out. "Now put them in your bags and go to recess," he said as the bell rang.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Choji went to their usual spot outside. "That teacher needs to shape up," Shikamaru said.

"I don't know what shape up means, but he needs to stop being late," Naruto said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys don't have as high a vocabulary as me. But that's basically what I meant, is that he needs to stop being late," he told him. The three of them looked at him funny. Shikamaru sighed. "I wish I could talk to someone who knows what I'm saying for once," he told them.

"My sister would probably know what you are saying," Gaara told him not looking up from his notebook. Shikamaru blushed.

"No, its ok," he said. "I'm fine talking to you guys." Naruto and Choji raised an eyebrow. "What?" Shikamaru asked them. They just shook their heads at him.

They sat there looking at the clouds and the kids playing soccer. "Hey, did you notice that Hinata never came back?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, where did she go?" Naruto asked.

"Her cousin Neji took her home," said a boy's voice from behind them. They turned and looked and saw Temari and Kankuro.

"What are you two doing here?" Gaara asked.

"Aw, don't be like that. Can't we just come visit you and your friends? We wanted to see how you were doing," Temari told him.

"I thought I told you that if you keep coming over to see us that everyone is going to hate you too," he told her.

"Does it look like we care?" Kankuro asked. Gaara didn't say anything.

"So why did Hinata go home?" Choji asked.

"Well her and Kakashi came into my class room and asked for Neji. She looked really sad about something. So Neji is taking her home because they live a block or so away from the school, and then he is coming back. He should be back by the end of recess," Kankuro told him.

"She was that sad?" Naruto asked looking to the ground.

"Yeah, what happened?" he asked. Choji told him what had happened.

"Well that's not very good. Your teacher needs to shape up. He isn't fit to teacher in grade school. He should teach Science or something to Junior High or High School," Temari said angrily.

"Hey Shikamaru, she used the same weird words as you did," Naruto whispered to him. He turned red.

"So what?" he asked. Naruto shrugged.

The recess bell rang and they all got up and went back to the school. They got to the class and the teacher wasn't there again. Shikamaru sighed and put him head down on the desk to sleep, Gaara just continued to draw in his note book, Choji pulled out some chips and started to eat, and Naruto rocked back and forth on his chair. Everyone else in the class was doing their own thing. Ino and Sakura were fighting over Sasuke again and were practically screaming their lungs out at each other, while Sasuke looked out the window annoyed at the two girls. Kiba was playing with Akamaru since Hinata wasn't there to play with him, which is what she did when Shino and Kiba were busy with something else. And Shino was making an obstacle cores out of twigs and leafs for his bugs on the desk.

The teacher finally came a few minute later. "Sorry class, I got caught up in my reading again," Kakashi said with a smile. "Reading is one of the best things you can do for you're mind you know, so I want you all to read a book for a bit. I just got to a good part in mine and I want to finish it. So everyone grab a book from that back shelf that you can read and do that for a while." Everyone got up and got a book. They opened it and started to read. Shikamaru opened his book, yawned, and put his head down on his desk. Naruto looked at him.

"Why aren't you reading?" he asked.

"I'm finished my book," he told him. "I have harder books then this to read at home."

"But these books are pretty hard, I don't know what most of these words are," he told him. Shikamaru sighed.

"I'll help you," he told him. "What word?" Naruto pointed to one of the words on the page. "That word is "The"," Shikamaru told him. Naruto pointed to another one, "Cat," and I another, "Went," Naruto pointed to another word. "You're joking right?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto shook his head. "You don't know what that word is? Are you trying to get me to read the whole book to you?" he asked. Naruto's face went sad and he looked down at the book.

"I just have lots of troubles reading is all," he told him.

"Well sound out the words then," Shikamaru told him. "You know what all the letters sound like, right? We have been learning how to read since Kindergarten." Naruto smiled.

"I'll try harder. I'm sorry for bugging you so much, I won't ask you again until I really need help," he told him, and Shikamaru went back to trying to sleep.

Sleeping didn't last long. Soon the teacher was waking Shikamaru up. "Why aren't you reading?" Kakashi asked.

"These books are too easy," Shikamaru told him. Kakashi looked at him for a moment, then opened his book and flipped through the pages until he found the only age appropriate part in the book.

"Read this sentence," Kakashi told him. Shikamaru read it perfectly with a very bored tone in his voice. "Alright then Shikamaru, I want you go to the library and find a book at your reading level that won't put you to sleep," he told him. Shikamaru got up and went to the library.

"Hey, where did Shikamaru go?" Choji asked looking up from his six page book that he was half done.

"He went to the library," Gaara told him as he read his fifteen page book.

"Well that's no good I need help!" Naruto yelled still on the second page of his four page book. Kakashi came over to him.

"What do you need help with?" he asked.

"These words!" he yelled pointing at the page.

"Try sounding them out, and please be more quite," he told him. Naruto nodded and sounded them out.

"F-I-r-e t-r-u-c-k," he said.

"Good, now them it together," Kakashi told him.

"Fire truck?" Naruto asked.

"Yes now what does that whole sentence say?" he asked.

"The fire truck came?" he asked.

"You're getting really good at this Naruto, keep it up," Kakashi told him with a smile. Naruto beamed at his teacher.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"Yeah, keep up the good work and you'll be reading bigger books in no time," he told him ruffling Naruto's hair. Naruto went back to his book.

Shikamaru came back to the class with a book as big as the one Kakashi was reading. He sat back in his seat and opened it. Everyone was staring at him. "Are you sure that's a good book for you?" Kakashi asked. "It might be hard to read." Shikamaru shook his head.

"No, it's the second one to the one I just finished reading at home," he told him.

"And you understood it?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. "What was it about then?" he asked having read the whole series already. Shikamaru sighed and explained it perfectly. "Ok, carry on then," he said a little surprised that Shikamaru retold it almost word for word.

After speed reading through the first two chapters of his book, Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "How are you going with your book?" he asked.

"Really good, Kakashi is really happy with me. I read a whole sentence to him without help," he told him with a big smile. Shikamaru smiled back and then got back to his book.

About an hour latter Kakashi stopped everyone from reading. "Ok class, I'm done my book so hopefully I won't be late to class for a while, right?" he asked with a little laugh. "And I'm sorry but you guys are almost late for gym, so you need to stop reading too." Everyone whined, but got up and put their books back. "And Shikamaru, I'll take your book back for you," Kakashi told him. Shikamaru nodded and the class headed to gym.

When they got there no one wanted to do anything. "You guys are so un-youthful today," Guy said with a sigh. "What did Kakashi do to you?" Everyone shrugged. "I know did he make you read some boring books?" he asked.

"They weren't boring, but yeah we did read," Ino told him.

"Well reading is good for your mind, but it makes you tired, and not want to do anything else, so laps around the gym! Let's go!" he said blowing his whistle. Everyone started running.

"Now, didn't that give you all a good adrenalin rush?" Guy asked. Everyone looked at him confused. "Soccer time, you youthful half over there, and the other half over there," he said happily. "Ready, set, GO!" he yelled blowing his whistle. The game started off good. Naruto and his friends were on one side, and Sasuke and his friends were on the other. The game went on for a while with no brake. And in the end it ended in a tie game. Everyone was tired and sweaty. "Good, that's just how I like to see you kids after gym!" Guy said happily. "It shows that you did your best, and to end in a tie, that's even better! Now go wash your hands and get ready for lunch. I'm sure Kakashi is waiting for you back in class!" Everyone went to the bathroom, washed their hands, got their lunch, and went back to the class room.


	10. Naruto's Fieldtrip Form

It was the end of the day, and Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru were waiting with Gaara and his brother and sister. "So are you actually going to go on this field trip Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know yet," Naruto told him.

"Oh come on, you haven't been on one filed trip since you came to this school," Chouji told him. "You're missing out on all the fun." Kankuro looked at him.

"You don't like going on field trips?" he asked. Naruto shrugged.

"I don't know, I've never been on one," he told him.

"Ah come on, field trips are fun," Temari told him. "It's practically a day off school."

"If I want a day off school I can stay home," Naruto told her.

"You should come anyways, even if this time it's only an art museum," Gaara told him looking up and down the road for his uncle's car. "He's late again," he said under his breath sitting down on the edge of the sidewalk and pulling out his note book.

"I just don't feel the need to go on field trips is all," Naruto told him putting him hands behind his head.

"You miss out on great fun though. Shikamaru and I usually leave the class and go do something else, if it gets boring," Chouji told him.

"That's no good. You should never leave the group, what if you got lost, or missed the bus back to the school?" Temari asked.

"Shikamaru is too smart to get us lost," Chouji told her with a smile. She just sighed.

"This is why I hate kids, they are such brats," Kankuro said under his breath. Temari hit him in the back of the head. "What was that for!" he yelled rubbing the spot she hit. She just crossed her arms and turned her back to him. Kankuro sighed.

Gaara's uncle finally pulled up to the school a few minutes later. Temari got into the front of the car and Gaara and Kankuro got in the back. "You better come on the field trip this time," Gaara told Naruto. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Gaara closed the car door on him and his uncle drove off.

"He's right, you should start coming on field trips," Chouji told him.

"But I don't want to," Naruto whined.

"I know you do Naruto, what's the real reason you never go?" Shikamaru asked. Shikamaru could always tell when people were lying or when something was wrong. He was just too smart for his own good.

"There is no reason. I just don't want to go!" Naruto yelled at him. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Naruto lowered his head. "You're too smart Shikamaru," he said under his breath. He shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk towards home. Shikamaru sighed and followed him. Chouji looked at Naruto then Shikamaru. He shrugged and followed them.

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Chouji met the next day where they usually did to walk to school. "Did you get your form sighed?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

"No, now let's go before we are late," Naruto told him starting to walk off. Shikamaru grabbed his wrist.

"You're going to get that form sighed. We want you to come for once," Shikamaru told him.

"Yeah, besides we are always really early getting to school," Chouji told him. Naruto sighed and started walking back to his house with the two boys following.

"You know, we've never actually been to your house," Chouji told him. Naruto didn't say anything. He just opened the front door of his house and looked inside.

"Are you still home? I forgot to get this field trip form sighed!" Naruto yelled into what seemed to be an empty house.

"Yeah I'm still here," a man's voice said. "You actually want to go on one?"

"Yeah, my friends are making me go," Naruto told it.

"Ok, I'll be right there," the voice said.

"No, I'll come in!" Naruto yelled in a kind of scared voice. He went into the house and slammed the door.

He came out a few minutes later. "Are you sure you don't want a ride? You're going to be late!" Shikamaru and Chouji heard a voice yell from inside the house. It was a little different from before, but it was still a man's voice.

"No, we can run!" Naruto yelled slamming the door.

"We can run?" Shikamaru and Chouji asked confused.

"It's only a few blocks away, but we better get going," Naruto said laughing and rubbing the back of his head. The other two boys sighed as Naruto ran past them. They turned and ran after him.

The three boys got into class and sat down just as the bell rang. Gaara was already sitting there waiting. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"Naruto forgot to get his form sighed, so we made him go back and do it," Chouji told him out of breath.

"And then he made us run to school instead of taking the offer for a ride," Shikamaru said with a sigh putting his head down on the desk.

"At least the teacher is always late, so he will never know," Naruto told him with a nervous laugh. Shikamaru just shook his head.

Kakashi came into the classroom a few minutes later. The class looked at him with a disappointed look. "What, I was a little earlier this time!" he told him. They shook their heads. "Anyways, I'm going to come around and take your field trip forms now," he told them. Everyone went and pulled them out of their bags. Kakashi got the Naruto's table last. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara handed theirs in then looked at Naruto. "Do you have yours Naruto, or are you skipping the trip again?" he asked.

"How did you know I skipped field trips?" he asked.

"I was warned by your previous teachers," he told him with a smile.

"Oh," Naruto said.

"So are you coming on this one or not?" Kakashi asked. The whole class was looking at Naruto now to see if he was actually going this time. Naruto sighed and reached into his backpack. He pulled out the form and handed it to Kakashi. Kakashi smiled. "Glad to see you will be joining us tomorrow," he told him.

"I wouldn't be if they weren't making me go," Naruto told him under his breath looking at his friends.

"Well I'm glad they did, this will be a good educational experience for you," Kakashi told him. Naruto gave him a confused look. "It means you'll learn something," he told him with a sigh. Then he went over to his desk. He put the papers down and turned and started the class.

It was recess now and Naruto was lying on the hill ignoring his friends. "Come on Naruto, it will be fun," Chouji told him. Naruto didn't say anything.

"You're such a drag," Shikamaru told him with a sigh. Naruto still never said anything.

"You know Naruto, this is going to be my first field trip too," Gaara told him. Naruto sat up and looked at him. "I never use to go because I didn't think it would be fun without friends to be with during it. So the only reason I'm going on this one is because of you guys," he told him.

"You really never went on a field trip before either?" Naruto asked him. Gaara shook his head. Naruto smiled.

"You guys are going to love it," Chouji told them. "Shikamaru will take us to all the places the class is going and more before the field tip is even over!"

"I can only do that if you guys follow me, and don't fool around too much," Shikamaru told them. "But yeah, I can do it and get us back in time to leave."

"Alright, let's have a fun field trip!" Naruto yelled as the bell rang to go in.

They got to class and sat down. Kakashi was already there waiting for them. He started the class on another art project. Then he went over to Naruto. "Naruto, I have to talk to you about the signature on this form you gave me," he told him. Naruto sighed.

"Alright, I knew this was going to happen," he said getting up and following Kakashi out of the class. Shikamaru, Chouji and Gaara watched Naruto and Kakashi leave the room, as did the rest of the class. As soon as they left, the room burst into chatter. Mostly about Naruto and how they thought he was getting in trouble.

Naruto came back into the class with Kakashi behind him smiling. "Well that was very interesting," Kakashi said.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said sitting back down in his chair.

"What happened?" Chouji asked. Naruto didn't say anything he just worked on his art project that his friends were almost done.

"Naruto, what happened?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nothing, now leave me alone. I have to catch up to you guys with this thing," he told them working on the cube they had to make out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

"Ok everyone, time for gym. Finish up, put your name on it, and leave it on your desk. Then head to the gym," Kakashi told the class. Everyone did as he said and headed out the door. They got to the gym and found that they had a girl for their gym teacher.

"Hey I'm Anko, your gym teacher for today. You're regular teacher, Guy, had to take the grade sixes on a field trip to a bowling place or something. I don't know. But what I do know is that I don't want to be here, and I don't like little kids. So today I'm going to let you do whatever you want. You can play tag or something, I don't know. Just don't bug me. I'll be in the teachers' lounge," she told them walking towards the door. Then she stopped. "Oh, one more thing, don't get hurt or hurt each other. And don't do something to get in trouble, I really don't want to have to deal with anything today," Anko told them leaving the gym. Everyone stood there looking at the door blinking.

When the class finally realized that Anko wasn't coming back, and that she really didn't care, they broke off into their groups and started talking. "I can't believe they let her be a teacher," Shikamaru said.

"Who cares, it's free time!" Naruto yelled happily.

"So are we going to do what we always do on free time?" Chouji asked.

"Yep, sit here and talk," Naruto smiled, and they walked over to the benches.

After a few minutes Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke came up to them. "So, you actually got the guts to come on a field trip," Sasuke said rudely.

"Who said I never had the guts to before? I just chose not to go," Naruto told him.

"Sure you did," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"And what did you get in trouble for?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, what was wrong with your form?" Sakura asked.

"None of your business," he told them.

"He didn't even tell us, why would he tell you?" Gaara asked.

"Oh, keeping secrets are we now?" Sasuke asked.

"Go away Uchiha, and take your girlfriends with you," Shikamaru told him.

"Why should I, Nara?" Sasuke asked.

"Because Hinata is going to see you guys over here bugging us, and then she is going to get upset again," Chouji told him.

"Since when do you care about us?" Ino asked.

"We don't care about you guys. We care about Hinata," Shikamaru told them.

"Whatever," Sasuke said walking away with Ino and Sakura following.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto laughed. "I like how Sasuke just says "Whatever" and walks away if he can't think of anything to say," Naruto said.

"I bet he gets really mad when he has no come backs," Shikamaru said.

"Ino and Sakura are talking to Hinata now," Gaara told them. They stopped laughing and looked over to the girls. Hinata was blushing now and looking over at them. Ino and Sakura were pointing at the four boys and looked angry. When they stopped talking Hinata started to walk over to Shikamaru, Naruto, Gaara, and Chouji.

"Ino and Sakura w-want me t-to say s-something mean t-to you guys, but I-I can't," she told them in a nerves whisper. "B-Because I w-want to thank y-you guys for b-being nice to m-me even though I-I play w-with Kiba and Shino."

"Hey, we don't care who you play with," Naruto told her with a smile. "You're nice to us, so we are nice to you."

"Yeah, and we really don't think its fare that you get dragged into all the fights that those guys have with us," Chouji told her.

"They are just mean people," Shikamaru said.

"N-No, they a-aren't. If y-you guys h-had the chance t-to meet them r-right, you w-would see t-they are r-really nice," Hinata told him.

"Well that's a shame, I would have liked to meet them the right way," Shikamaru told her.

"W-Well I h-have to g-go back, bye," she said walking away.


	11. The Museum

Naruto was late getting to the morning meeting place. "He isn't going skip the field trip on us, is he?" Chouji asked.

"He's such a drag. Well we better go get him," Shikamaru said, so he and Chouji walked over to Naruto's house. They went up to the front door and rang the door bell. There was no answer. So they rang the bell again. "Naruto, hurry up!" Shikamaru yelled. Shikamaru and Chouji waited for a few secants, and then they heard people yelling from inside the house.

"Is it just me, or do you hear three different voices again?" Chouji asked.

"I defiantly hear Naruto," Shikamaru said holding his ear to the door. "Yeah, I hear two other people too." Chouji went and put his ear on the door too so he could hear what they were saying better.

"Naruto, hurry up and go!"  
"But I don't want to!"  
"Too bad, you're going! You promised your friends!"  
"But-"  
"Listen to your father Naruto."  
"No, don't make me go! The school already thinks the signature on the form was weird! If I don't go then they can think it's fake!"  
"Get down here and go to school or I'm opening this door and letting your friends in to get you out!"  
"No, don't!"  
"Then get down here!"  
"Fine, I'm coming!"

Shikamaru and Chouji stepped away from the door as Naruto opened it. "Have fun," the voice that wasn't yelling before said.

"Yeah, I will!" Naruto told it. He closed the door and looked at his friends with a fake smile. "So, we all set?" he asked.

"Yeah, what took you so long?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, I was really tired and missed my alarm clock going off. Then I had to rush to get ready, no biggie," he told him as the three boys started to walk to school. "I'm really excited for the field trip though." Shikamaru and Chouji knew this wasn't true. They had heard almost the whole conversation after all. But they didn't want him to know they were being noisy.

"I'm really looking forward to it too," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, you promise to take us to places the class isn't going, right?" Chouji asked him. Shikamaru nodded. "This is going to be so fun!" Chouji said happily.

They got to the class room and sat down. Kakashi was already there, and since they were a little later than normal Gaara was waiting there too. "What took you so long this time?" he asked them.

"Naruto, missed his alarm clock," Shikamaru told him. Gaara looked at him.

"What, it's not my fault I can sleep through anything," Naruto told him.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Gaara asked. Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head as Kakashi came over to them.

"So you really are coming then?" he asked Naruto. Naruto nodded. "Well I'm going to have to talk to the person that signed your form after then, in person," he told him with a smile.

"But he can't, he is always busy," Naruto told him.

"Oh, that's too bad," Kakashi said. "I'll give him a call anyways though." Naruto frowned. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara looked at him.

"What?" he asked. They just shook their heads. "Whatever," he said with a sigh.

Once everyone was in class and the school day had started Kakashi told them to head to the front doors. The class got up and left with him behind them. They got to the doors and then went out to the school bus that was waiting for them. They sat in twos on the bus. "Who you're sitting with now is going to be your partner for this trip," Kakashi told them. "Got it?" The class nodded. "Good, then I'll take attendance and write down who you're with, and then we can go," he said with a smile, and then started to call out names. The groups people were in were:  
Gaara and Naruto  
Shikamaru and Chouji  
Sakura and Sasuke, which took a lot of fighting with Ino  
Ino and Hinata  
and Shino and Kiba

They bus ride was a long one. Naruto sat there watching Gaara draw, Shikamaru and Chouji played eye-spy, Ino and Sakura were yelling at each other, Hinata was holding Akamaru and petting him, Sasuke looked really mad but just stared out the window, and Kiba and Shino were playing with Shino's bugs and sending them to bug the bus driver. Kakashi was sitting up front trying to read and tune it all out, but it didn't work very well. He sighed and turned to the class. "Sakura and Ino, stop fighting. And Kiba and Shino, stop it with the bugs," he said calmly. But then a bug went flying past his head, then around it and back. And Sakura and Ino started to yell louder. "That's it! You four better stop it now or your going back to the school!" Kakashi yelled. Everyone looked at Kakashi frightened. He never yelled at them before, and it freaked them out. "Thank you," he said with a smile and went back to his book. Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji looked at each other with a scared look of their faces.

They got to the museum a few minutes later. It was two floors, but didn't have much people in it. The class walked up to the building and went in. Kakashi told them to wait at the front while he went and told the people they were there. "Once he gets back and takes attendance again we will go. But we have to be back for lunch," Shikamaru told Chouji, Gaara, and Naruto in a whisper. They nodded and waited for Kakashi to come back.

Once attendance was done Kakashi told them about the museum and where and when they would be eating lunch. Then he introduced them to their guide for the day, and left to go read. Shikamaru, Naruto, Chouji, and Gaara stayed at the back and stayed with the group until they started to go into a different room. That's when they broke away so no one could see them because the wall was in the way. They waited for a few seconds, and then started to walk down a different hallway. "Ok, what do you guys want to go look at?" Shikamaru asked.

"I want to see these weird paintings!" Naruto yelled pointing at a picture in the brochure Shikamaru was looking at.

"Ok, well that's upstairs," Shikamaru told him leading the other three boys to the stairs.

They went through the whole top floor of the museum before lunch. Shikamaru would explain about a piece of art if Naruto, Chouji, or Gaara asked for it, and they usually had to back track because someone wanted to see something in an area that they already went to, but they were done the top floor of the museum by lunch. Gaara looked at a clock that was on the wall. "We better get to the lunch place," he told them as some older people looked at them strange for being so young and all alone. Naruto's stomach growled. They laughed and headed back downstairs to where Kakashi said they would be eating lunch. As they got close to it their class started coming from the other way. They hid and waited for them to go in the door, then went in behind them. The room had a few tables and chairs, and a vending machine. They went and sat down at one of the tables as Kakashi came into the room. He called for everyones attention then did attendance.

"Ok, well everyone's here," Kakashi said with a smile. "Finish eating lunch and then you guys will be doing the rest of this floor and some of the top floor. You won't get to the whole museum."

"We will though," Chouji said happily in a whisper.

"We have to start from where they started the bottom floor though, so we don't run into them," Shikamaru told them. They nodded.

Once lunch was over Naruto, Gaara, Chouji, and Shikamaru stayed in the back of the group again. Then they went and hid and waited for a while. Once they thought it was safe they went in the opposite direction of the class. Soon they were done and there was still an hour left. "What else is there to do here?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing really," Shikamaru told him.

"Well that's no fun!" he yelled.

"Be quite, you're going to get us in trouble or something," Chouji said.

"Whatever," Naruto said. "I want to do something fun."

"Well there isn't anything to do in a museum except look at art," Gaara told him.

"Let's go back and join the class then, I want to see those weird paintings again. I think I finally found out how to look at the one. You have to tilt your head to the side," Naruto told him.

"Fine," Shikamaru said with a sigh. So they went to go find their class.

Soon it was time to go home. They went to the front of the building and hopped on the bus. Then they sat through the long bus ride home that was pretty much the same as the one there. When they finally got back to the school, it was over. They got off the bus and Kakashi told them they could go home. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino headed towards their houses. Ino and Sakura went a different way. And Sasuke went and sat on the front step of the school. Temari and Kankuro were sitting on the front lawn of the school waiting for Gaara and their uncle. Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji got off the bus and went over to them. "So how was it?" Temari asked.

"It was ok," Naruto said. "It was a museum you know, couldn't do much."

"Did you stay with the group at least?" Kankuro asked.

"No, Shikamaru took us around. We finished before the class so we went back and followed them so we could go look at the weird paintings again," Chouji told him.

"Yeah, you have to tilt your head sideways to see them, but they are cool," Naruto him. Temari shook her head as their uncle pulled up. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara said good-bye to Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji and got in the car. Then they drove off.


	12. Uchiha Brothers Fight

It was the weekend now and Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto were out at the park. They were playing on the swings when Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara came over. They went and sat at the top of the jungle gym. "Hey, you guys are Sasuke's friends, right?" Itachi asked them. The three boys shook their heads. "Well if you're not his friends, then you must be the ones that made him cry," he said. Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru never said or did anything. "Well are you?" he asked them. They still never did anything.

"Seeing as they aren't even moving anymore, I have to say I think they are the ones," Sasori told Itachi.

"Why do you even care?" Kisame asked.

"Because he wants revenge on the boys that made his baby brother cry," Deidara said rolling his eyes.

"Give it up Itachi, you hang with us now. You don't need to worry about that little twerp of a brother," Kisame told him. Itachi looked at his friends, then at Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Kisame. I mean those boys aren't even worth the time for a good bullying," Itachi said getting up. "Well let's go."

"Aren't you supposed to wait here for your brother? I thought you were talking him to the store," Sasori said.

"Whatever, he can go by himself," he told him climbing down the jungle gym.

Naruto couldn't stand listening to this anymore. He stood up and walked over to Itachi angrily. "How could you say that? If you said you were going to take your brother somewhere then you should!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Naruto get back here, you're going to get killed," Chouji told him scared.

"Yeah, that is an Uchiha you're talking to after all," Shikamaru told him

"I don't care! He needs to know it's wrong to treat people the way he does!" Naruto yelled.

"Hey twerp, listen to your friends before you get hurt," Kisame told him.

"I said no! Itachi needs to be yelled at!" he said getting louder.

"Um Naruto, you might want to stop," Shikamaru said seeing Sasuke hiding behind one of the park benches.

"Fine, but you better wait here for Sasuke. I don't care if he is mean to us and doesn't like us. I know how it feels to be left out, and that's what you're doing to him now that you're friends with these guys. You're not leaving Sasuke this time," Naruto told him. Sasori, Kisame, and Deidara rolled their eyes.

"Come on Itachi, you don't have to listen to this kid. Let's go," Deidara told him. Itachi nodded.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said turning his back to Naruto and his friends.

Sasuke came out from behind the bench. He looked up at Itachi on the verge of crying. "You weren't going to wait for me? You were going to leave me again?" he asked tears building up in his eyes. Itachi never said anything.

"Yeah, that's right kid! Now move it! Itachi has friends now! He doesn't need to be hanging with an annoying baby like you! Now scram!" Kisame yelled at Sasuke. Sasuke looked to the ground his hair hiding his face. Little tear drops fell to the ground. "Yeah that's right. Now maybe if you got some real friends you wouldn't care so much," Kisame told him.

"Hey, come on that's not nice," Deidara said.

"Yeah shut up Kisame, can't you see you made the kid cry?" Sasori asked angrily. "I'm really sorry about this Itachi." Itachi bent down by Sasuke.

"Don't listen to that jerk. I'll do something with you tonight," Itachi told him going to hug him.

"No!" Sasuke yelled pushing Itachi away. "I have had enough of this! You always leave me to go be with these jerks! I hate you!" Itachi got up and frowned.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," he said in a caring voice.

"No you're not, because you're just going to do it again later! I hate you! I miss the old you! I want my big brother back!" Sasuke yelled at him falling to his knees.

Sasori, Deidara, and Kisame looked at each other. "Well we better go now, come one Itachi," Sasori said.

"Yeah, you don't want to be standing here if an adult comes by. They might think you did something to him," Deidara said.

"But I did, I made him sad and practically abandoned him," Itachi told him.

"That's not what an adult will think you did. Now come on lets go," Kisame said grabbing Itachi and dragging him away.

"How can you just leave him like this? He's you're little brother!" Naruto yelled after Itachi. Itachi just gave him a frown and went with following his friends. "You're so mean Itachi! I don't know why Sasuke sticks up for you!" Naruto yelled to him and he turned the corner to go down the block.

Chouji got up and went over to where Naruto was now sitting down by Sasuke. "He doesn't look too good," Chouji said staring down at the two boys. Naruto didn't say anything and Sasuke was still crying. Shikamaru got up and went over to them.

"Are you going to be ok Uchiha?" he asked. He didn't say anything. "Sasuke," Shikamaru said as Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at the three boys.

"You guys probably think I'm a big baby now," Sasuke said whipping his eyes. They shook their head.

"All you did was let out how we feel everyday because of you and your friends bullying us," Chouji said.

"Yeah, I haven't cried like that since grade one because I got use to it, but that's how we feel," Shikamaru said.

"Now you know how we feel. And no, we don't think you're a big baby," Naruto told him. He gave a small smile.

"So that's how you guys felt for the past few years," Sasuke said under his breath. The three boys nodded.

"Doesn't feel too great, does it Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"I-I'm sorry," he said. Then he stood up and whipped his eyes again. "I'll be better, but for now I just need to go home," he told them. They nodded and he headed home.


	13. Naruto's Dad

Shikamaru, Chouji and Gaara waited for Naruto in front of the school. It was the last day of the weekend and they had all promised to go to the corner store together, and then the park. But Naruto, being his usual self, was late again. "Should we go to his house and remind him?" Chouji asked.

"Maybe, but he'll get mad. He doesn't like people going to his house, remember?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why doesn't he like people going there?" Gaara asked.

"I think it's because he doesn't want the people he is living with to answer the door and have us finding out who they are," Shikamaru told him. "I'm not really all too sure."

"All the more reason to go," Gaara said with a smirk.

"We can just go, ring the bell, and then yell for him so he knows who it is," Chouji suggested. Shikamaru sighed and agreed.

When they got to Naruto's house they did what Chouji suggested. The house burst with yelling like it had on the day of the field trip.  
"I'm opening the door this time Naruto!"  
"No!"  
"Then get your butt down here!"  
"Why do you always do this to me?"  
"Because you keep trying to let down your friends!"  
"No I don't, I just forget things!"  
"Naruto, listen to your father and get down here."  
"I am!"  
"Well come faster!"  
"No!"  
"Naruto."  
"I said I was coming!"  
"You're not fast enough!"  
"I'm tired!"  
"Good, then you're too tired to stop me from inviting your friends in!"

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara looked at each other. The door opened a crack and they saw the back of a tall man with blond hair kind of like Naruto's. "That's mean, come on he is coming," said the voice of the man that had always been the most calm.

"Fine," said the tall blond man, and he closed the door.

A few secants later Naruto came through the door and slammed it behind him. He stormed down the stairs and up to his friends. "He never really opened the door did he?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru and Chouji shook their heads knowing that it would upset him if he knew he did.

"Kind of," Gaara said. "All we saw with the back of someone tall with blond hair."

"Great," Naruto said with a sigh. "What about the other one?" Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara shook their heads this time. "Ok, let's get going then," Naruto said with a fake smile.

As they got closer to the store Gaara turned to Naruto. "So, is your dad gay or something?" he asked. Naruto stopped.

"What?" he asked.

"Is your dad gay?" Gaara repeated as he, Shikamaru, and Chouji stopped too.

"No," Naruto said. "Why?"

"Because there was another voice when you were all yelling at each other, and it was also a guy's voice," Gaara said.

"Well he isn't," Naruto told him.

"Then who's the other guy?" he asked. Naruto opened his mouth to say something but Shikamaru stopped him.

"It's none of our business who it is," he told Gaara. He sighed.

"Whatever, come on lets go," he said pushing Naruto, Chouji and Shikamaru so they would move again.

They got to the store and Sasuke was there with Sakura and Ino. The two girls were fighting over what to buy because they only had enough money for one thing. Sasuke was leaning against a self shaking his head at the girls. When he saw the four other boys walk in he gave them a small wave so that the girls wouldn't see. Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara smiled and him; Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji had told Gaara about what happened over the phone the night before. Sasuke finally had enough of the fighting girls, and tried to help them choose. But while he was helping with the decision Ino spotted Gaara, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Chouji walking by them on the other side of the shelf. "Hey, what are you losers doing here?" she asked.

"Buying candy, what else would you do in a candy store?" Shikamaru asked.

"Don't act all smart on us," Sakura said handing Sasuke both the candy's she was holding and joining in with Ino.

"Act smart?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah," Ino said.

"He's smarter then you two," Gaara told them.

"So, that doesn't mean anything," Sakura told him.

"Oh, that's right. You're too dumb to count for anything," he told her.

They never said anything for a few secants. But then they turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, the losers are being mean to us!" they yelled at him. Sasuke looked up from the shelf of candy he was looking at. He looked at the two girls and shrugged, and then looked away. "But Sasuke!" they yelled going over to him.

"If you would have just chosen the candy and left you wouldn't have this problem," he told them shoving the candy back at them. Then he shoved his hands in his pocket and headed to the door. "I'll be outside," he told them leaving the store.

Ino and Sakura turned back to the boys. "If he wasn't feeling so sad he would have beat you guys up!" they yelled at Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

"He's still sad?" Naruto asked.

"Ye- wait, you had something to do with it, didn't you?" Ino asked angrily.

"No, we really never," Chouji told them. "We tried to help him."

"I'm so sure of that," Ino said rolling her eyes. "Come on Sakura! Let's get Sasuke's favourite candy and leave." Ino grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her to the counter. Sakura gave the boys an "I'm sorry" look and left the store with her best friend.


	14. Seating Plan

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji raced to school. "I'm tired, can we stop running now?" Naruto asked in a whiney voice.

"I want to stop too, but you refused to come out on time again. So if we don't run we're going to be late," Shikamaru told him.

"It's not my fault! My alarm clock never went off!" he yelled at him; which wasn't a good idea because he was almost out of breath.

"You need to start being better. Shikamaru and I get out on time and then we have to wait for you. Next time we'll just leave without you so we don't have to run," Chouji told him as they burst through their classroom door.

"Ah, Naruto, Chouji, Shikamaru, glad you could join us," Kakashi said with a smile.

"We aren't late yet, the bell never rang," Naruto told him.

"The bell rang three minutes ago, idiot," Kiba told him. Naruto frowned and he and his friends went to their seats. Then Naruto looked up at his teacher.

"Why are you here, you're usually late," Naruto said pouting.

"I just had a feeling you guys wouldn't make it to class on time today," he told him. Naruto crossed his arms.

"You're lying, what's really going on?" he asked. Kakashi sighed.

"You got me," he said with a smile. "I got here early because I had to get a seating plan for you guys. I know you're good, but all the other kids have one. I thought you guys felt left out."

"What, we don't need a seating plan!" Sakura and Ino yelled. "We like it here!"

"I know, but there seems to be some division between some of you. Now as a teacher it's my job to stop bullying and stop kids from feeling left out at a young age so you don't do it when you're older. I noticed that on the first day you all went straight into these groups without trying to get to know anyone else. I also noticed that on the fieldtrip it was the same thing. So now it's my job to wreck your fun and put you in a seating plan," he told the girls.

"That's not fare!" Kiba yelled.

"Yes, well I don't really want to give you a seating plan, but the principle said you need to be disciplined or something like that. Something about making new friends and that she put you all into a class together for a reason," Kakashi said with a sigh. "Anyways, the seating plan will be like this:

Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Hinata in the back,  
Kiba, Chouji, and Ino in the front right,  
And Naruto, Shino, Gaara, and Sakura at the front left.

Naruto and Gaara were already in the front left table, so they never had to move. But Shikamaru and Chouji got up and went to their seats. Shikamaru and Sakura switched seats, Chouji and Shino switched seats, and Ino and Hinata switched seats. Kakashi smiled. "Ok, I never picked the seating plan either, so if you have a problem it's not my problem, it's the principles'," he told the class. Everyone sighed. "Now, I'm going to let you talk to your new tables for a while. If you have any problems raise your hand and I'll get to you," he told him. Almost instantly after he said this everyone's hands shot into the air. Kakashi sighed. "Let me re-say that. If you have any problems that don't involve where and who you are sitting with, than you can raise your hands and tell me," he told them. "No one, good, now you guys talk and I'll read my book." A big sigh was let out through the class.

"Well at least there is one person I can talk to at this table," Sakura said looking at Shino. But Shino was staring at the table intensely. "Shino, I'm taking about you," she said. He still never did anything. "Shino!" she yelled slamming her hand on the table. He looked up at her.

"You killed him," he said. Sakura gave him a puzzled look. "You killed my newly born baby spider. His mom is going to be so sad," he told her.

"What, I just squished a spider, Teacher!" Sakura yelled raising her hand.

"Yes?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow.

"Can I go wash my hands?" she asked. Kakashi nodded. "Thank you!" she yelled gratefully. "I hate bugs, and I hate this table!"

When Sakura was gone Naruto started laughing. Gaara sighed. "Now it's going to rain," he said. Shino nodded.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said. "And by the way that girl acts it's going to rain lots."

"So as long as we don't smash the table we're all good with the bugs?" Naruto asked. Shino nodded.

"I'll tell you guys next time there is a small one on the table. When I do make sure your hands are off it as I find it and get it back where it's supposed to be. As long as you two at least do this then I will have no problems sitting here," he told them. "And don't worry, Kiba and Hinata got used to it quickly so you should too." Naruto and Gaara nodded as Sakura came back in angrily.

"I'm never touching this table again! I want to go back to my old table with Sasuke!" she yelled.

Kiba glared at Chouji. "What?" he asked.

"I can't believe I have to sit with _you_," he said as Chouji pulled out a bag of chips.

"What's wrong with you, why in the world are you always eating?" Ino asked rudely.

"I don't eat all the time, only when I'm nervous or its lunch or supper or breakfast, or snack time," he told her. "That's why I was eating on the first day of kindergarten."

"Why are you telling us this? You don't even like us. You're just giving us more reasons to make fun of you," Kiba said.

"She asked and I answered her truthfully. That's just the way I am," he told him.

"Well just don't get crumbs all over the table, I hate dirty things, they are so sick," Ino said.

"Akamaru will clean it up if he does," Kiba said.

"Or he'll do it himself and lick the table," Ino laughed. Chouji put his chip bag down on the table and glared at her. "What's wrong not hungry anymore?" she asked.

"I lose my apatite when I'm mad," he told her.

"Can I have them then?" Kiba asked. Chouji nodded.

"What about me?" Ino asked him.

"No, I'm mad at you," he said.

"Yeah, well I didn't want your stupid chips anyways! I just want to go back to my table with Sasuke!" she yelled at him. "You two boys are such pigs! You eat all the time, and Kiba is a dog!"

"Look who's calling us pigs!" Kiba yelled. "You're the pig!"

"Hey, no one is allowed to make fun of my name!" she yelled at him.

"Sakura does," Chouji told her.

"Yeah, but she's my best friend!" she yelled at him then she moved to the far end of the table. "I hate this."

"Yeah, ok there _Ino_," Chouji said.

"Shut up!" she yelled. Kiba laughed.

"Nice one," he said high-fiving Chouji. "You're not so bad after all."

Shikamaru, Hinata, and Sasuke stayed quiet. Sasuke was looking out the window, and Hinata was too shy to say anything first. "So," Shikamaru said finally. Hinata jumped at this sudden sound near her, and Sasuke looked at him.

"What Nara?" Sasuke asked.

"I just thought it seemed weird sitting here quietly. I'm use to being with my friends who are always yelling and stuff," he told him.

"Y-Yeah, a-and Kiba w-was r-really n-noisy too," Hinata told him.

"I like it quiet," Sasuke said looking back out the window. Shikamaru sighed.

"You don't have to put on that "I'm a loner tough guy" act on around us, Uchiha," Shikamaru told him. "I've seen what you're like outside school, remember?" Sasuke looked at him and glared.

"There is no need to bring those things up," he told him angrily.

"Why? Everyone is being too loud to hear us talk since we are talking quietly. All my friends know about it already. And Hinata is too nice to tell anyone else about it or start rumours about it," Shikamaru told him. Sasuke didn't say anything. He just gave Shikamaru an evil look. "I was just wondering if you were ok, Sasuke. After what happened at the park you just went home," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "And then at the store you kind of helped us out, which I want to thank you for, but after you just walked out." Sasuke looked back out the window.

"I just didn't feel like fighting, and I left because I was sick of the yelling and stuff in the store. I was getting a headache. There is no need to thank me for anything. I never did anything," he told him.

"I'm thanking you anyways, because to me, Naruto, Gaara, and Chouji it was something. You never did anything when you would usually join in the fight to help bully us," Shikamaru told him.

"It was just my thanks for the day before," Sasuke told him.

"How is your brother anyways?" he asked.

"I don't know, he leaves early and comes home late now. It's like he is avoiding me," Sasuke said his voice had a hint of sadness in it. "But we don't need to talk about that jerk." Shikamaru nodded.

"You're not going to tell anyone about what we just said, are you Hinata?" Shikamaru asked her. Hinata shook her head.

"I-I'll never t-tell anyone a-about what w-we talk a-about here," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "Thanks."


	15. Gaara's Dad

The bell rang and everyone rushed for the door. Naruto, Chouji, Gaara, and Shikamaru went to their usual spot and fell down onto the grass. "I hate Sakura," Gaara said opening his drawing book to a new page.

"This is going to be a long day," Naruto said with a sigh. Chouji nodded.

"It's not that bad," Shikamaru told them.

"Not that bad? You have Sasuke to sit with, you guys are always fighting. How can it be not that bad?" Naruto asked confused.

"Uchiha isn't that bad. He doesn't say much, and neither does Hinata. It's a nice quite table," he told him.

"I would rather sit with anyone then with Ino or Sakura," Gaara said. "Shino it's that bad."

"Shino is weird," Naruto reminded him.

"Yeah, but at least he isn't annoying," he told him.

"Well the only reason Kiba isn't bugging me is because Ino is there. He doesn't seem to like her very much either, and we can both bug her to turn the attention away from me. At least for a little bit," Chouji said looking up at the sky.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "What?" Shikamaru asked.

"I want to switch tables with you," Naruto said.

"Well you can't, and you'll probably annoy Sasuke anyways," he told him.

"Why did the principle have to make us a stupid seating plan," Gaara said still drawing in his book. "We were fine without one." Naruto looked over at Gaara trying to get a look at his book.

"What are you drawing anyways?" Naruto asked. Gaara sighed and showed it to Naruto. "It just looks like a bunch of lines," Naruto told him.

"That's because it's not done yet," he told him going back to the drawing.

"Well what's it going to be?" Naruto asked again.

"Sakura getting attacked by a mountain of Shino's bugs and you and me laughing in the back ground," Gaara told him plainly. Naruto and Chouji burst out laughing.

"How can you draw and say that keeping a straight face?" Naruto asked still laughing.

"Because I really hate her, and I've draw worse thing," he told Naruto.

"Like what?" Shikamaru asked joining in. Gaara sighed and flipped though his book to a different page. It was a detailed picture of a man hanging himself. Naruto and Chouji stopped laughing. "Who is that?" Shikamaru asked as Gaara flipped back to his drawing he was working on.

"My father," Gaara told him.

"Why would you draw a picture of that?" Naruto asked.

"Because I use to draw pictures of what I saw when I was little. I actually drew that when I was in kindergarten," he told him.

"Wait...you...huh?" Naruto asked confused. Gaara sighed.

"You know how I told you guys that, that picture I drew first in class was better than the ones I use to draw? And then my brother and sister said they were happier, or whatever, that I was drawing better pictures now?" he asked. The three boys nodded. "Well that's because I use to draw stuff like this when I was little," he told them going back to the picture of his dad hanging. "I drew stuff that I saw to calm me down. I've made a story with pictures in this book. They are all from when I was little and still living in Suna. My uncle wanted me to through them out, but I couldn't do it. So they are still all here."

Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru were shocked. They didn't know much about Gaara, and this was something big that they now knew. "Would you like to see the pictures?" Gaara asked them laying back onto the grass.

"I guess," Naruto said. Gaara opened the book to the first page and handed it to him. The three boys flipped through the book. The first picture was of Temari, Kankuro and Gaara's dad sitting at a table. They guessed that since Gaara drew what he saw before that it was from his point of view. There was one empty seat with an empty plate and glass in front of it. Gaara's dad still had a full plate a food and looked as if he was playing with the food, but Temari and Kankuro were almost done and were looking at the empty seat.

The second picture was of Temari, Kankuro, and their dad at a grave stone. They were all shaded in, so they were probably wearing all black. Temari was holding a flower with her head hung, and Kankuro was putting a flower on the grave. Their dad was on his knees with his face in his hands. The grave had a women's name on it and Gaara's last name. Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru guessed it was Gaara's mom's grave.

The third was Gaara's dad sitting on a chair with a book out. The book said 'photo album' on it. The picture was from the point of view of someone looking from around the corner. Gaara's dad also had his head hung in this picture, and was holding a bottle in one hand.

The forth picture was of Gaara's dad yelling. When the three boys looked at it, it looked like he was yelling at them. There was also just the side of two people at the edge of the page. They were probably Temari and Kankuro.

The fifth picture was Gaara's dad walking out of the house. Kankuro and Temari were grabbing onto his jacket and crying. Their dad had his head turned and looked like he was yelling at them again.

The sixth picture was all black except for the area around the open door that Temari was standing in. She looked scared and was pointing out of the door to the right. Kankuro was standing behind her and looked scared too.

The last picture was the one of Gaara's dad hanging himself again. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji looked at Gaara. He took the book from them and sat up. "Well, that's the story of my father," he said tears forming on the edge of his eyes, but he whipped them away. He went back to the picture he was drawing of Sakura.

"But why would he..." Naruto trailed off.

"He was really upset after my mother died. She was really sick when I was a baby and I hardly saw her. My father was really sad when she died because he wasn't at the hospital when she did. My brother and sister were also really small too, so he couldn't leave us for long at home. He took us sometimes to see her, but we were told to leave because my crying and Kankuro and Temari's fighting when they got bored bothered the other people there. The night she died he was going to go see her but my uncle was busy and couldn't take care of us while he did. So he stayed home. Then they called him and said she was dead. He felt so guilty that he wasn't there for her when she died. He became very depressed. I grew up knowing a sad and mad father that was crying, yelling at us, or drinking. Then one night Temari and Kankuro heard him come home so they got up to make sure he made it to his room alright like they always did. But instead he went to the room we had all of our mom's stuff in. Temari and Kankuro didn't know what he was doing when he got up on the chair with a rope and got scared. So they came and got me up to help them even though I couldn't do much because I was only in kindergarten. When we got there the last picture is what we all say," Gaara told him.

"Gaara, why are you telling them about the past?" Temari asked going up to him with Kankuro following. She stopped in front of him with her arms crossed. "You know you just scared your friends for life, right?"

"I'm sorry," Gaara said hanging his head. Temari sighed.

"It's their fault anyways, they probably asked," she told him hoping it would make him fell a little less guilty.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyways," Kankuro said. "Uncle takes care of us, we are really happy, and we have good friends."

"Don't let those pictures and that story get to you guys, ok," Temari told Shikamaru, Naruto, and Chouji. "Just forget about it, everything is fine now." The three boys nodded as the bell rang to go back in.


	16. This Isn't a Class, It's a Zoo

The three boys were still shocked at what they had found out about Gaara and his family. They went into the class room trying to forget at least a little of what had happened. Naruto and Gaara went and sat down at their table with Shino and Sakura. Shino looked at Gaara who was still drawing, and Naruto who looked a little scared. "Are you ok, you look like you've seen a ghost or something," Shino said poking Naruto in the shoulder.

"Why does it matter," Sakura said. "And why are you even talking to him again?"

"He never did anything to me to make me not talk to him, so why not?" Shino said.

"But don't you usually bully him?" she asked.

"I've never bullied anyone in my life, just been one of those kids that stand by and watch not wanting to get involved," he told her as he watched a ladybug he found outside crawl on his pencil.

"It's ok, nothing's wrong, really," Naruto said with a smile and looked at the ladybug too. "Where did you find that?" he asked pointing to it.

"Outside in the grass, she almost got run over by the soccer ball," Shino told him. "So I saved her."

"Yeah," Sakura said angrily. "But it cost us a goal."

Gaara looked up from his note book now. He saw Naruto, Shino, and Sakura staring at the ladybug on the table. He studied it for a moment and then switched pages in his note book to a blank one. Naruto looked over at Gaara, because he was being very quiet. He saw the blank sheet that he was starting to draw on. "What happened to the other picture you were working on?" Naruto asked.

"I want to draw something else first," he told him. Shino and Sakura looked up from the ladybug.

"Can I see after?" Sakura asked watching the pencil move across the page.

"Maybe," he told her.

"What do you mean maybe? I want to see. Your drawings are really good," she told him. Shino and Naruto looked at her. "What, it's true!" she yelled. They shook their heads and looked away. "What?" she asked.

"Fine," Gaara said with a sigh. "You can see when I'm done." Sakura smiled at him.

"Thank you!" she said happily.

Shikamaru looked in the direction of the very loud 'thank you' that had come from Sakura. "Sounds like they're getting along," he said more to Hinata then Sasuke.

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "I should talk to her about it, and see what she has to say for herself."

"W-why can't she g-get along with Naruto a-and Gaara?" Hinata asked. She was starting to get less shy even though it had only been a few hours. It was probably because Shikamaru was a nice person, and Sasuke could be too when he wanted to.

"Oh, she can," Sasuke told her. "I just want to see if she'll admit she was getting along with them. Ino will probably get to her first though and they will get into a big fight." He sighed a little.

"I hate all their screaming and fighting," Shikamaru said putting his head down on the table.

"So do I, I'm a little glad they got split up," he said.

"M-me too," Hinata said looking at the clock. Shikamaru and Sasuke looked up at it too. Kakashi was late again. He was now 5 minutes late, and everyone was getting a little restless. The three kids let out a sigh.

At the other table, just to the right and in front of Sasuke, Hinata, and Shikamaru, Ino and Kiba were fighting. Akamaru had jumped up and Ino's lap, because he was so use to sitting on Hinata's, and he had gotten Ino's new purple outfit muddy. "How was I suppose to know he had muddy feet!?" Kiba asked her angrily.

"Because he was walking in the mud during recess, you should have cleaned his paws!" Ino yelled back.

"Why did you let him up in the first place then?!" he asked.

"I didn't, he just jumped up!" she yelled back.

Akamaru was whining and cowering by Chouji's feet. He didn't like the yelling, and he probably knew it was his fault. "Are you ok?" Chouji asked in a whisper to Akamaru. Akamaru looked up and him and then hung his head. "It's ok, come here," he told him. Akamaru wagged his tail and jumped up on Chouji. "Would you like a snack?" he asked. Akamaru barked happily. So Chouji pulled out another bag of chips and gave one to Akamaru. He wagged his tail took the chip, and ate it. Chouji smiled. He took a hand full of chips and put them on the floor for Akamaru. Akamaru jumped down and started to eat the chips, and Chouji put the rest away.

Kakashi came in a few minutes later. Of cores he had left the class for so long that it had become total zoo. Kiba and Ino were fighting still. Ino and Chouji were all muddy from Akamaru. Akamaru was eating chips off the floor and leaving crumbs. Shino had gone outside and brought grass and sticks in for the ladybug to play in. Sakura was watching Gaara draw over his shoulder, and he would occasionally tell her to go sit down, which she would do, but then get up and go look again. Naruto was playing with the ladybug while Shino made its temporary home. There was grass and sticks all over there table, chairs, and floor around them. The only good table seemed to be the one at the back. Shikamaru was trying to sleep, Sasuke was staring out the window, and Hinata was just playing with a string on her coat. But, the back door, that Shino had gone through to go outside, was still wide open. The breeze was blowing papers and the grass around the room, making the mess worse. There were also paw prints leading from that door over to Kiba, Ino, and Chouji's table, around the class a little, and even a few on top of the table.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he stopped just inside the door when he saw all this. He was about to turn and leave, because he didn't want to have to fix this, but Naruto spotted him. "Teacher, you're late again!" Naruto yelled. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Kiba and Ino, who were standing and screaming at each other, quickly sat down. Sakura ran back to her seat. Shino finished the ladybug's home, took it from Naruto, and put it in it. Hinata stopped playing with the string. Sasuke removed his gaze from the window. And Shikamaru sat up again, while Gaara didn't really care and just kept drawing.

Kakashi let out a sigh and closed the classroom door. He was scared of any other teachers seeing this mess and getting the principle in here. "Hinata, go close the fire escape door please," he said. Hinata nodded and did as she was told. "Now," Kakashi started. "What happened here?" No one said anything. He let out a sigh and went to the front of the class. He looked around. "What happened here?" he asked again. Still no one said anything. Kakashi pointed at Chouji's table. "What happened with you two, when I came in you two were fighting," he said pointing at Kiba and Ino. Ino stood up and started yelling about Akamaru and Kiba. This made Kiba get up and start yelling to defend himself and his pet. "Calm down," Kakashi said trying to keep his cool. "One at a time, Ino, you go first." Ino explained her side to the story, and then Kakashi pointed at Kiba and he explained his.

"Ok," Kakashi said. "From what I'm hearing from you two, you are both at fault. So, Ino, I'm going to call your mom and dad and they are going to bring you some fresh clothes. But wait here for a minute so I can talk to everyone else first. Kiba, I'm going to get you to take Akamaru and clean him up, and then bring some paper towel in here to clean up the mud." Ino and Kiba nodded, and Kiba grabbed Akamaru and left the room. Then Kakashi pointed at Chouji. "What about you?" he asked. Chouji told him what he was doing while Ino and Kiba were fighting. Kakashi sighed. "I'll call your mom and dad too so they can get you some clothes. In the mean time, go through out the rest of the chips, get some paper towel and clean up the crumbs," he told Chouji. Chouji nodded and headed out of the room after Kiba closing the door behind him.

Next Kakashi pointed at Naruto's table. "Shino, Naruto, what's with the grass and sticks?" he asked. Shino explained about the ladybug, and Naruto told him about the home they were making for it. Kakashi sat down and put his head in his hands and shook it. He looked back at Naruto and Shino. "You guys, I want you to pick up every piece of grass and every stick. You can keep that little 'home' for your bug, but every other little piece needs to go. But at the end of the day the 'home' needs to be gone," he told them. They nodded and started picking up all the grass and sticks. "Sakura and Gaara, you guys weren't really doing anything bad, so you can relax, or help if you want," Kakashi told him. Gaara continued drawing. Shino whispered something in Sakura's ear. She nodded and began to stare at the ladybug's home.

"Now, Sasuke, Hinata, and Shikamaru, you guys seem to be the only completely good kids in here, so you relax, you don't have to help. But if one of you wants to pick up those papers that seem to have blown around the room, than that would really help," Kakashi told them. They nodded. They picked up the papers, threw them out, and then went back to what they were doing before.

Chouji came back just as Hinata, Shikamaru, and Sasuke had finished. He cleaned up the chips and the table a little, so Kiba didn't have to do too much. Then Kakashi called him and Ino up. He didn't want them going to the office because he didn't want to risk the chance of the principle seeing them. He was having a hard time with this as it was without Tsunade on his back. So he called the kids parents on his cell phone. When he was done, he told them to go out the fire exit door and wait in front for their parents, but not so out front that the people in the school could see them. Ino and Chouji nodded and left out the door making sure to close it behind them. Soon Kiba was back with a clean Akamaru and some paper towel. He didn't want Akamaru getting in trouble again, so he got Hinata to watch him as he cleaned.

"We really made a big mess, there is grass and sticks everywhere," Naruto groaned.

"That wasn't all us, it was the wind too," Shino told him.

"Sorry," Naruto said. "I forgot to close the door behind me."

"It's ok, your hands were full," Shino said.

"Hey, no talking," Kakashi said. "This is a punishment, not only do you have to clean this, you can't talk."

"Can't the cleaning guy do it? I mean it is his job," Kiba said. Kakashi frowned at him.

"It may be his job to clean up, but he shouldn't have to clean up this big mess you guys made. This is too much. Plus he would have told the principle and then we would all have been in trouble," he said. Kiba just sighed and finished the cleaning.

Soon it was all done, and Chouji and Ino were back with clean clothes. The only thing bad was it was almost lunch time. Kakashi sighed. "Well we missed a lot of work and we are going to have to make it up somehow," he told the class. A big sigh was let out.

"Please not at lunch recess!" Sakura yelled.

"No, no," Kakashi said. "I'll have to talk to Guy and have him let you miss gym." The class groaned. "Hey, it's your own fault. You guys choose to make a huge mess while I was gone." The class started to give him puppy dog eyes. "No, now go wash your hands and get your lunch," he told them getting a little annoyed. They nodded and left as the bell rang.


	17. The Principle

After lunch and lunch recess everyone came back into the class. Kakashi was already there waiting for them. "Well I talked to Guy and he wasn't too happy that I wanted you to miss gym. He was talking about something to do with youth, I really don't know. But I told him that a strong mind is needed just as much as a strong body, so he agreed to let you miss," he told the class. Everyone let out a sigh. "Like I said, you need to make up for the time you lost," Kakashi told them. "Understand?" The class nodded. "Good," he said and started the lesson.

Soon they had gotten done all the stuff they had missed and a little extra. "Ok, since you guys have been good you can have a break. You need to get up and move around anyways, I know you're too young to be sitting still this long," Kakashi told them with a sigh. Then he sat down, put his feet on his desk and began to read. Everyone got up and went to talk to their friends. Sakura and Ino ran straight to Sasuke. Shikamaru sighed and got up to go sit with Naruto and Gaara while Chouji left to go see them too, and Hinata took his place with Kiba. Shino didn't want to leave the ladybug alone, so he stayed at the table with Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

Kiba and Hinata noticed that Shino wasn't moving, so they went over to him. "Hey, you aren't ditching us for these guys, are you?" Kiba asked looking at the other four boys. Shino shook his head. "Then what's wrong?" he asked.

"He's taking care of the lady bug," Naruto told him.

"Well why doesn't be bring it over to our table then?" Kiba asked.

"Because that would disturb her, and moving her to a new place so fast after she just got use to this one could traumatise her," Shino told him. Kiba sighed.

"W-We can j-just sit here," Hinata said.

"Fine," Kiba said a little annoyed. He sat down on the floor and called Akamaru to come sit in his lap. Hinata sat down beside him.

Naruto looked at Gaara drawing in his notebook. "Are you done yet?" he asked.

"Almost," he said. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji watched him has he continued to draw. "That's kind of creepy," Gaara told them.

"Well we have nothing else to do," Naruto said.

"We can sleep," Shikamaru said putting his head down on the table and closing his eyes. Chouji pulled out a bag of chips, opened them, and began to eat. Naruto turned to the ladybug that was playing in the grass and watched it walk around in it.

Soon Gaara switched the page back to what he was drawing before the ladybug. Naruto looked over at Gaara. "Are you going to show us it?" Naruto asked.

"It would look better coloured," he told him.

"Just show us anyways," Shikamaru told him opening his eyes but not lifting his head. Gaara gave a little unnoticeable sigh and flipped back and showed it to Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto. Their eyes went wide in amazement at the detailed drawing of the ladybug. Shino looked over, and Sakura noticed Gaara showing them something, so she went rushing over.

"That's really good," Sakura told him when she saw the picture. Kiba and Hinata were looking too now. At the table in the back Sasuke and Ino were watching and wondering why Sakura would just run off like she did, and why there wasn't a big fight going when they saw who was all at the other table. So Sasuke and Ino went over to go see what was happening. Kakashi wasn't even concerned at what was going on. He was too into his book to care what the class was up to.

"Can I have that picture after you color it?" Shino asked. "It would go good with my collection."

"If you give me two dollars," Gaara told him. Shino nodded.

"I'll give it to you when you're done coloring," he told him.

"Bring it tomorrow then," Gaara told him. Shino nodded again.

A little while later the class heard a knock on the class door. Kakashi snapped out of his book and looked up. The person knocked again. So Kakashi got up and opened the door, not even trying to get the class back to their seats. Ha saw Tsunade standing there with the intent to kill in her eyes. "Kakashi Hatake. Control your class!" she yelled in his face. He turned and saw the class all huddled at one table.

"Class, sit down please," he told them sweetly. They looked up at him, saw the principle, and went running back to their assigned seats. "Thank you," he said. Then he turned to Tsunade. "And to what do we owe this wonderful surprise visit from our one and only principle, which we all love and admire dearly?" Kakashi asked turning back to Tsunade.

"Cut the sweet talk Hatake," she said angrily pushing past him into the class room and over to sit at his desk. "I was having a nice relaxing day until I got complaints from almost every teacher in the building about your class."

"About my class, but they haven't been doing anything," Kakashi told her. "You must mean Iruka's class." Tsunade shook her head and looked around the class. Everyone looked terrified.

"At least you're trying to make an effort by using the seating plan I had to make for you," Tsunade told Kakashi. "But I have been getting noise complaints all morning, and this afternoon Guy came to my office and said that you cancelled gym for some work that the class had missed."

"I told him not to tell anyone about that," Kakashi said under his breath. Tsunade glared at him.

"Just what are you trying to pull Hatake? What work did they miss? And why did you cancel gym on them? When I came in here they were most obviously not doing work after all. These kids are in third grade, they need a balance of work, play, and exorcize. Otherwise they will get restless. They do not need to be goofing off, being noisy, and making trouble," she told him getting angrier. "If you have an explanation for this please tell me, I would love to hear what ever story you have made up for me."

Kakashi blinked and looked around the class. He didn't know what to say. He never thought Tsunade would find out, so he never made up a story. "Uh..." he said looking around again. "We were...that is... the class was..." Sakura's hand shot in the air. Tsunade pointed at her to let her talk thinking she had to go to the bathroom or something.

"Just when you walked into the class we were studying art," she told the principle a little scared. Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Is that true Kakashi?" Tsunade asked.

"Uh, yes," he told her. He noticed Gaara still had the lady bug picture out. "We have a very talented artist in the class. The kids were looking at his new work," he said pointing to Gaara. He was feeling a little relived now that someone had saved him. Tsunade looked over the desk at his drawing.

"You drew that?" she asked. Gaara nodded.

"We were also doing science," Naruto said raising his hand but not waiting for her to pick on him. "We are learning about insects. So we were also looking at the ladybug and how it lives and what it eats. But we couldn't see it very well because sometimes she hides in the grass, so Gaara drew that picture for us to see one like it was big."

"Two lessons in one? I guess that's ok," Tsunade said. "You're off the hook for that, Kakashi, but what about all the noise complaints this morning?"

"Well that was because...um..." he said getting a little nervous again.

"We were doing art class and using paint. We got loud and never listened when Mr. Hatake told us to calm down. Then people were forgetting the 'share' and 'ask nicely' rules. So everyone started fighting and getting paint everywhere," Shikamaru told her lazily. "We missed the rest of the time we were going to use for math and stuff to clean up so no one else had to. That's why we skipped gym," he added. Tsunade sighed.

"Well I guess I'll have to take the word of your students," she told Kakashi. "They are either lying through their teeth to save you, or they are telling me the truth when you don't have the guts to." She got up out of Kakashi's seat and went to the door. "I better not get any more complaints about this class," she told him.

"Oh you won't. I will make sure they behave themselves and you don't get bother anymore today," he told her. "After all, a lovely lady like yourself should relax and not have to worry about these things."

"I told you to cut the sweet talking Hatake," she said angrily and slammed the classroom door. Kakashi let out a big sigh and fell back into his chair.


	18. Naruto's Uncle

Naruto waited for Shikamaru and Chouji where they would usually meet. He was early because his dad and uncle had dragged him out of bed. He stood there for a few minutes, and then sat down on the curb. They lived in a small neighbourhood, so no one usually drove by or park beside the sidewalk. Naruto sat there for a few minutes before Shikamaru and Chouji came running up the street. "You're here already?" Chouji asked. Naruto nodded.

"They made me get up early," he told him.

"Aren't you tired?" Shikamaru asked.

"Not really, I have been up for a while now. I'm awake." He told him.

"Oh, well I'm tired," Shikamaru told him.

"You're always tired," Chouji said. Shikamaru just sighed and walked towards the school. Naruto and Chouji followed.

They went through the morning with no problems like the day before. Kakashi had even come in early. They got through all their morning work, and soon it was lunch. Kakashi told everyone to wash their hands and then go get their food. So everyone left the room to go to their backpacks. When Naruto opened his bag though, there was no lunch in it. He looked through his bag for a while pulling everything out, even though it was a really small bag, but still never found it. Everyone else had gone back into the class except for Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara. They stood behind him watching. "Forget your lunch?" Gaara asked. Naruto turned to him.

"I left it at home," he told him sadly.

"We can share ours with you," Shikamaru told him. Naruto shook his head.

"I don't want to take your food," he said. "I can go without."

"No, you should eat something, we don't care if you take ours," Shikamaru told him.

"Guys, let's just get back to class before the teacher gets mad. We can talk about this in there," Chouji said. So the boys headed back to the class.

When they got to the door though, Iruka came up to them. "Hello boys," he said with a smile. Shikamaru, Gaara, and Chouji had never actually heard Iruka talk before, because they never saw him since he taught the older kids, but his voice sounded familiar to them.

"Did you come to talk to our teacher?" Naruto asked hopefully. Iruka shook his head.

"I came to give you this," he said handing Naruto a lunch bag. "You left it at home, so I thought I better give it to you at lunch." Naruto took the lunch box, but looked really angry.

"Thank you," he said angrily.

"Now, now, give me a nicer thank you," he said. "I did bring you your lunch so you wouldn't starve after all." Naruto sighed and said thank you again, this time more sweetly. Iruka smiled, said goodbye, and went back down the hallway.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara were really confused now. They turned to Naruto with puzzled looks on their faces. "What?" Naruto asked.

"Why did Iruka bring you your lunch?" Chouji asked.

"And how did he know you left it at home?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto just turned away and never said anything. But Gaara stopped him.

"You owe us some answers," Gaara said. Naruto sighed.

"My dad must have called the school and told them I left it at home, and they gave it to him to give to me," Naruto told them.

"But why him, why not our teacher, or why didn't they just call you to get it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because Iruka saw it sitting in the office and was nice enough to bring it?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut in front of by Kakashi.

"What are you four still doing out here? I said to come back to class fast," he told them.

"Sorry, we're coming," Naruto said walking past his teacher quickly into the class room. The other boys sighed and followed him in.

The rest of the day was pretty good for the class too. They got everything done and there was no trouble just like in the morning. The only thing that the kids had to complain about was Guy's gym class. He made them work extra hard to make up for the day before, and everyone was pretty sore after. But besides that the day went by smoothly. It also went by fast. Before anyone knew it school was over for the day and everyone was heading home. Naruto, Chouji, Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were waiting in front of the school like normal for Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's uncle. They were sitting on the grass making grass piles, and then throwing it at each other. Soon their hair and clothes were full of grass, and they were trying to brush it off. Shikamaru had been covered in the most grass because he was just laying there and didn't want to join in. So this gave everyone else a reason to throw lots at him. Shikamaru stood up and tried to brush it off. "You guys are too troublesome. I was trying to relax," he told them lazily.

"Come on, we were just having fun," Temari told him.

"So, I didn't want to join in, and I'm surprised that you, the oldest of everyone, joined in something like this," he told her.

"Hey, I'm still a kid. I'm allowed to have fun," she told him sticking her tongue out at him. He sighed and sat back down on the grass while the others started their grass fight up again.

Soon Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's uncle pulled up to the school. He looked at the group of kids covered in grass through the car window. Then he locked the door and rolled down his window. "Brush off that grass before you come in the car please," he said. The three siblings nodded and started to brush off the grass, as did everyone else. As they were busy cleaning up the grass Iruka came out of the school. He went up to the kids with a smile.

"Hey Naruto, I'm allowed to leave early. So I can drive you and your friends home if you want," he said. The kids looked at him, and then everyone looked at Naruto.

"How do you explain this one?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh," Naruto said but was cut off by Iruka's talking again.

"And make sure all the grass is off, you know how your dad doesn't like you making the house a mess," he said. Everyone raised an eyebrow at Naruto. Naruto sighed.

"Iruka is my uncle, ok," Naruto told them. "Happy now, I told you." Everyone stared at Naruto and then Iruka. They didn't know what to say. Iruka smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you didn't want people to know," he said with a nervous laugh. Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's uncle looked at them confused, he had no idea what was going on.

"Are you three coming or not, or is the teacher talking to you because you're in trouble or something?" he asked. Everyone looked at him now.

"Oh no, its fine, nothing's wrong," Iruka told him with a smile.

"Well then hurry it up, we need to get going," he said. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro nodded. They said good-bye and hopped into the car. Then their uncle drove off.

"Well I'm going to get my papers I have to mark tonight, and then we can go," Iruka told the three boys that were watching the car drive away. Then he went back into the school. Chouji and Shikamaru turned to Naruto.

"So your uncle is a teacher at this school?" Chouji asked. Naruto nodded not saying anything. "That's so cool, so he can get us free grades when we're in his class?" he asked.

"It doesn't work that way Chouji," Shikamaru told him. "We'd still have to work for our grades."

"Oh," Chouji said. "That's still pretty cool though. He could make school easier for us, right?"

"Probably," Naruto said feeling a little less embarrassed. "He helps me out lots." Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something like, 'well teachers are suppose to help you' but before he could, Iruka was back with a briefcase and his car keys.

"Ok, you guys ready to go?" he asked. They nodded. He looked at the boys for a few more seconds and then sighed. "Well at least you tried to get the grass off," he said under his breath.

"Hey it's not our fault, grass is small and hard to pick off," Naruto told him pouting as he and his friends followed Iruka.

"Then why did you start a grass fight?" he asked.

"Because it was fun," he said with a grin. Iruka sighed again and unlocked his car. The boys got in and he closed the door for them. Then he got in the driver's seat. He turned on the car and then turned to the boys to make sure they had their seatbelts on. Then he started to back out. "Can I drive?" Naruto asked.

"No," Iruka told him.

"Why not, I want to drive!" he yelled.

"Because you'll crash into something before we even get a block home," Iruka told him.

"That's your excuse every time," Naruto said pouting.

"Well he's probably right, and you're not even tall enough to reach the gas," Shikamaru said.

"But dad lets me drive!" Naruto yelled.

"No he doesn't, you just sit on his lap and hold the steering wheel when he decides to take you out to the country with him. And that was only once," Iruka told him. Naruto's eyes went big and tears started to fill his eyes.

"But I want to," he said sniffing. Iruka sighed.

"It's too late, we're almost home," he told him. Naruto sighed and whipped the tears out of his eyes.

"You're really good at fake crying," Chouji told him. Naruto grinned.

"Thank you, it usually works on my dad. But with uncle Iruka it doesn't," he told him.

"That's because I can see through your fake tears. I've seen you cry for real before," Iruka reminded him. Naruto sighed as they pulled up to the house. The boys got out of the car. Shikamaru and Chouji lived about a block away, so they said good-bye and walked the rest of the way home. Then Naruto followed Iruka into the house.


	19. Party Invites

Naruto and his friends sat in their usual spot on the hill watching the others play soccer. Gaara was drawing in his book like usual. But this time he was drawing the people playing soccer for an art project. Shikamaru was looking up at the clouds, and Chouji was eating a bag of chips. Gaara looked up from his drawing. "I wish I could draw Sakura and Ino getting hit in the head by the ball," he said. Chouji looked over to him.

"Then why don't you?" he asked.

"Because I'll get in trouble, and my uncle and Temari and Kankuro will get mad," he told him with a sigh.

"Well then draw it after your done your art project and just don't show anyone," Shikamaru said. Gaara didn't say anything. He just went back to drawing but had a slightly eviler look on his face.

Naruto sighed as watched the kids play like he was watching TV. "What's wrong, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"My birthday is this weekend," Naruto told him. Gaara looked over to Naruto a little confused.

"Then shouldn't you be happy?" he asked. Naruto shook his head.

"Not this year. My uncle wants to throw a party for me, and wants me to invite all this kids in the class," he told him.

"But why does he want everyone?" Chouji asked. Naruto sighed again.

"I don't know, but he gave me some invites to handout. And if I don't do it he'll be mad. But I don't want all those kids over. They aren't as nice as you guys and they'll laugh when they find out Iruka is my uncle," he told him. Naruto leaned back on his hands. "Maybe I can say I handed them out and then just tell him that no one could come," he said.

"But won't he be expecting phone calls from their parents?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto let himself fall back onto his back. Then he rolled over onto his stomach.

"I hate Iruka," he said angrily.

Soon the bell rang for recess to end. Naruto, Gaara, Chouji, and Shikamaru's class rushed into the school. Kakashi had told them that they only had two minutes to get to class. He was really coming down on them after the Tsunade incident, even he had been on time for class for the past few days. Once everyone was seated Kakashi closed the class room door and went to the font. "Naruto, can you come here please?" he asked. Everyone in the class, except Naruto's friend of cores, let out a long 'O'. Kakashi smiled at the class. "No, no, he isn't in trouble," he told them. The kids let out and 'Awe', and when back to talking with their friends.

Naruto stood up and when over to Kakashi. "Are you sure I'm not in trouble?" Naruto asked. Kakashi sighed.

"Yes Naruto, I'm sure," he told him.

"Then what?" he asked.

"You're uncle told me at recess that you had something to give out to the class. I'm guessing he didn't think you were actually going to do it," Kakashi told him. Naruto frowned.

"My uncle knows you?" he asked.

"Of cores he does, we've taught together and been friends for years," he told him with a smile. But Naruto's frown grew.

"Then how comes he never talks about you?" he asked. Naruto really didn't know that Kakashi and Iruka were friends. Iruka never told Naruto anything, and it was starting to annoy him.

"I don't know," Kakashi said rubbing his chin in thought, but he quickly shook those thoughts out of him mind. "Anyways, please give the class what he told you to. Otherwise we'll both be in trouble." Naruto nodded and went to go get the party invites form his backpack.

When Naruto got back he went to the front of the class with a frown on his face. "At least fake smile," Kakashi told him with a sighed. Naruto took a deep breath and put his usual fake smile on. Then Kakashi turned to the class. "Ok everyone! Get back in your seats. Naruto has something to give you," Kakashi ordered the class. Everyone quickly left their friends and what they were doing, and sat down quietly in their assigned seats. Naruto took another deep breath and started to talk to the class in the happiest voice he could.

"It's my birthday this weekend and you're all invited," he told them with the fake smile while holding the invites up. He had gotten so good at pretending to sound and look happy when he wasn't that no one really noticed he never really wanted to invite most of them.

After he was done handing them out, the class started to talk in a whisper to their friends that were by them. Naruto sighed and sat down in his seat by Gaara. "So, I'm guessing that was all fake," Gaara said. Naruto nodded.

"Why would I be happy to invite these people to my house?" he asked in a whisper. Gaara shrugged. Naruto let out another sigh and put his head down on the table as Kakashi turned to the class.

"Alright, I know you're all existed about going to a party this weekend. But we need to get some work done," he told the class. Everyone went quiet and looked at him ready to do some work.

After a few minutes Kakashi handed out a booklet. He told the class to fill it out, and that they were allowed to talk quietly with their table as long as at least the first two pages got done. "There will be a test on the words on the first two pages. So make sure that if you're still not sure you know them after you finish them on here that you write them out on a sheet of paper a few times too," he told them. Shikamaru looked at the handout when he got it and sighed. It was a sheet to help with spelling. It required them to write out the words at the top five times each. There were four words on each page and every page got harder. The words on the first page were: Dog, Cat, Mom, and Dad. Shikamaru sighed again. "What, does he think we're in grade one?" he asked to not really anyone, but Hinata answered.

"I-I'm sure there are still some people that need help with them," she told him.

"Not everyone is super smart like you," Sasuke said. He had his head resting on his hand and was looking out the window. "But these first words are easy." Hinata nodded in agreement as she started on the words. Shikamaru looked down at his page for a few seconds. Then he picked up his pencil and wrote the words on the first page out. As Shikamaru finished the first page, Hinata finished the second word, and Sasuke, who refused to start at the same time as everyone else, just started the first word. Shikamaru sighed again at the words on the other page. What, Want, Don't, and Does. He finished the second page as Hinata started it and Sasuke started the last word on the first page. Then he put his head down on the table. Soon Kakashi started to come around and check everyone's work. When he got to the back table, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Sasuke were done. They were actually the only ones in the class done. Kakashi didn't believe them, but they showed him they were and he gave them a sticker. He told them that they could do whatever they wanted, as long as they were quiet. The three of them nodded.

"So are you guys going to Naruto's party?" Shikamaru asked hoping that Sasuke's answer would be no.

"Why does it matter?" Sasuke asked. Shikamaru didn't answer him, but looked at Hinata.

"I-I might, I-if my dad will let me," she said looking down. Shikamaru smiled.

"I hope he does, I'm sure you're one of the ones Naruto really wants to come," he told her. Hinata blushed.

At Naruto, Gaara, Shino, and Sakura's table they were focussing hard on their work. Shino and Gaara were on the last word, Naruto was on the third one on the first page, and Sakura was on the second one on the second page. When they were done, Shino started to play with another bug he had found outside that he had hid in his sleeve, and Gaara continued with his art project. Kakashi came over and gave them both a sticker and then looked to see where Sakura and Naruto were. Sakura was now on the last word, and Naruto was just starting the last word on the first. Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, you know everyone is on the second page, or done now," he told him. Naruto looked up at him.

"But I'm trying to remember them," he said.

"Ok, just go a little faster. Or you might have to do it at home," Kakashi told him. Naruto frowned and then went back to work.

When Kakashi was with the other table Naruto stopped and looked up. "So are you coming to my party, Gaara?" Naruto asked hopefully. Gaara looked up from his art.

"If my uncle can drive me, we live pretty far from here," he told him.

"Oh," Naruto said looking down at his sheet and working again. Sakura finished and looked over to him.

"Don't you even care to ask someone else if they and I are going?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said looking up again. "Shino, are you coming?"

"Maybe," Shino said continuing to play with his ant. Naruto sighed and went back to his words. Sakura clenched her fist and took a deep breath.

"Are you going to ask anyone else?" she asked him.

"Like who?" Naruto asked concentrating on his work.

"Like me! Aren't you going to ask me so I can say no and call you a loser?" she asked angrily.

"Why would I ask you? I don't care if you come or not. You're mean to me and my friends," he told her. Gaara smirked and Shino gave a little chuckle. Sakura clenched her fist tightly.

"If we weren't in a class with a teacher I'd beat you up right now," she told Naruto.

"Will you stop bugging me, I'm trying to work," Naruto told her. Sakura stood up angrily and Gaara and Shino started to laugh uncontrollably. Naruto smiled to himself. Without Ino and Sasuke with her Sakura wasn't able to do anything to him or think of ways in insult him. He felt a little happier that he was able to bug her and get Shino and Gaara to laugh, and she couldn't do anything about it. Naruto looked up at Sakura with a little smile on his face as he saw Kakashi come up behind her.

"Is something wrong Sakura?" Kakashi asked. Sakura looked at him.

"No, nothing," she said.

"They why the sudden need to stand up?" he asked.

"Uh, I'm done my work?" she told him. Kakashi smiled.

"Well you know you didn't need to get up, you only needed to put up your hand," he told her.

"Yes teacher," she said. Kiba, Chouji, Gaara, Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru started to laugh. Sakura sat back down in her seat.

"Ok, that's enough boys," Kakashi said. "Get back to work." The boys stopped laughing and went back to what they were doing. Kakashi put a sticking on Sakura's sheet and went back to his desk. When the teacher wasn't looking Sakura gave Naruto and evil glare. His smile faded and he sighed. Bugging her and getting some people to laugh at her was fun, but Naruto knew it probably wasn't worth it. She would tell Ino and Sasuke what had happened as soon as she got to talk to them, and Naruto would be in big trouble.

At Ino, Kiba and Akamaru, and Chouji's table Kiba was the only one still working. "You remind me of Naruto when it comes to school work, you're slow at getting it done," Chouji told Kiba. Kiba looked up at him.

"I'm not like your loser friend in anyway," he said angrily. Chouji just shrugged and gave Akamaru, who was sitting under the table at his feet, and few chips.

"So are you coming to Naruto's party?" he asked after a while.

"Why would we go to that loser's party?" Ino asked. Chouji shrugged.

"I was just asking," he said.

"He doesn't even want us there, I can tell," Kiba said. "He was probably forced to invite us." Chouji didn't say anything. "I knew it," Kiba said.

"And I thought he invited the whole class so he could get on our good sides," Ino said with a sigh. "Whatever, I don't want to go."

After a few more minutes everyone in the class was done. Kakashi started with math and the mad minutes. Then it was lunch and everyone headed to their backpacks to get their food.


	20. The Party

The weekend, this is usually a happy time for people because they get to relax and get their minds off school; but not for Naruto. Today was his birthday, and that meant it was his party today. Naruto sighed as he watched Iruka set up the house. "Why so sad?" Iruka asked. "It's your birthday today, be happy." Naruto shook his head.

"I would be happy, if my whole class wasn't coming over," he told him. Iruka sighed as he put up the last streamer.

"Well you don't have to worry about anything, your dad and I won't even be here," he said. Naruto gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean? There isn't going to be anyone watching us?" Naruto asked. Iruka laughed.

"No, your dad asked a friend of his to come and watch over your party," he said. "You're dad has a meeting today, and I got busy at the last minute. I have to go to a teaching seminar today."

"So who's watching us?" Naruto asked a little cereous now.

"I think your dad said his name is Jiraiya, I'm not too sure," he told him shrugging. Naruto went wide eyed.

"Jiraiya, no, he can't come watch my party!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"And why can't he?" Iruka asked.

"Because he's so weird, don't let him come!" Naruto yelled. Iruka sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure he's not that bad," he said.

"You never met him! He's the worst!" Naruto told him.

"Well too bad he's coming, there's no arguing about it now we already asked him. And don't go bug your dad about it either, he left already," Iruka told him. Naruto crossed his arms and stormed off.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang. Naruto opened the door to his two friends Shikamaru and Chouji. He smiled and let them in. They were really early, which made Naruto's mood lift a little. He showed them into the living room where the party would be held. "So where's your uncle?" Chouji asked.

"He went to a teacher's thingy," Naruto told him.

"What about your dad?" he asked.

"Meeting," Naruto replied.

"So we're all alone, no one's watching the party?" Chouji asked going wide eyed. Naruto shook his head and explained the situation.

"So basically we're just waiting for some weird old guy to show up and watch us?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto nodded. Shikamaru and Chouji had nothing else to say to this, they just went and sat down on one of the couches.

Soon the doorbell rang again. Naruto got up and went to the door. "Someone, give me a boost so I can see who it is," he said. He was too short to reach the little hole in the door after all. Chouji got up and rushed over to Naruto. He got down on his hands and knees and Naruto stood on top of him to look through the hole. When he saw who was out there he jumped down and ran into the kitchen. Shikamaru looked at Chouji, and Chouji sat up and shrugged. So they followed Naruto.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Shikamaru asked when he saw Naruto looking through a bunch of drawers and shelves.

"I'm trying to figure out if we have any of that spray stuff that you spray in people's eyes," he said as the doorbell rang again.

"You mean pepper spray?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto nodded. "Naruto, I don't think your dad and uncle would have pepper spray. And if they did they'd have it with them," he told him. "Why do you want it anyways?"

"That weird old guy my dad asked to come is here," he told him as the doorbell rang for a third time. Shikamaru shook his head and grabbed Naruto by the back of the shirt. Then he started to drag him back to the front door. "Let go! I need that pepper stuff! I swear it's the only way to keep him in line!" Naruto yelled at him. But he didn't listen. He brought him right to the front door as the bell rang for a fourth time.

"Open it," Shikamaru said. Naruto crossed his arms and looked away from him. "Open it," he said again. Naruto sighed knowing Shikamaru would never give up, and opened the door to let the creepy old guy in.

"Naruto, it's nice to see you! I heard it's your birthday today and you're having a party!" Jiraiya yelled happily. Naruto looked up at him with a very serious look in his eyes.

"My dad said I'm not allowed to talk to strange people," he said. "So could you let me follow his rules and leave?" Jiraiya grew a big smile.

"You're Naruto alright, all ways trying to be the funny one!" he said walking into the house and closing the door behind him. "Now, are there going to be any good looking single moms at this party?" he asked not paying attention to Shikamaru and Chouji who were standing there looking at him with wide eyes.

"This is a party with the kids in my class. You're going to be the only old person here," Naruto said getting a little annoyed. Jiraiya sighed.

"And who are these two?" he asked finally seeing Naruto's terrified friends.

"These are my best friends, Shikamaru and Chouji," he told him.

"Pleased to meet you!" he said reaching out a hand. Shikamaru and Chouji didn't move. Jiraiya's smile faded and he rubbed the back of his head. "Odd ones these two are," he mumbled looking around at the decorated living room. "So, Naruto, where does your dad keep his adult drinks?" he asked turning to the boy.

"Dad said not to let you near it," Naruto told him as he walked by him and went back into the living room.

"What do you mean by that?" Jiraiya asked.

"He told me you get even weirder when you have that stuff, and that I shouldn't let you have any," he told him. Naruto was feeling like he was turning in to the babysitter now. His dad really made a mistake picking this guy to watch the party. "Now, how about you sit down over here," Naruto said pointing to a chair by the window. "And when people come you greet them and talk to their parents." Jiraiya sighed again and mumbled something under his breath. But he sat down in the chair and looked out the window.

The doorbell rang again about a half an hour later. Jiraiya got up and answered it. "Hello, come in," he said letting Gaara into the house. Gaara gave him a confused look as he entered the house. "Naruto, one of your friends is here!" he yelled. Naruto looked over from the couch he was sitting on. Then he got up and raced over to the door.

"Gaara!" he said happily. "You came!" Gaara nodded and followed Naruto into the living room.

"So, who is that guy?" Gaara whispered as Jiraiya sat back down in his chair with a sigh.

"One of my dad's friends," Naruto told him. Then he explained to Gaara a little bit about Jiraiya that Shikamaru and Chouji had figured out by themselves.

Soon more and more people started to show up, and Jiraiya kept getting up and answering the door. The first people to come were Ino and Sakura. They came together with Sakura's mom because Ino's mom was busy at work. "My, my, what's your name?" Jiraiya asked when he opened the door to Sakura's mom.

"I'm just here to drop off my daughter, Sakura, and her friend, Ino. And who are you?" she asked.

"I'm a friend of the birthday boy's dad," he told her. "Now, how about you come in for a little bit and we can get to know each other better. I'd love to learn more about this lovely young lady's mother."

"I'm sorry, I'm very busy today," she told him backing away.

"Maybe when you come pick her up then?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Her father will be picking her up," she told him. And with that she headed out to her car. Naruto came to the front door shortly after.

"Hey you," Sakura said. "This creep just scared off my mom!" Naruto looked at Sakura and Ino, and then at Jiraiya.

"She has a dad that I get to scare off too after the party," Jiraiya told him sounding a little disappointed and annoyed. Naruto just shook his head and went into the living room. Sakura and Ino looked at each other, and then raced after him.

After everyone got there, and Jiraiya was shot down by Kiba's mom too, the party could start. Jiraiya stood up in the middle of everyone. "So," he said. "What are you guys going to do?" Everyone looked at him. "Because if you want to just, I don't know, sit here like good kids the whole time than I could leave you alone and take a nap," he told them.

"My uncle said he left you a list of things for us to do!" Naruto yelled at him. Jiraiya sighed and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to say, Naruto," he told him. Then he looked over the list. "First: Pin the Tale on the Donkey," he read looking up at Naruto. "Ok, where is that set up?" Naruto shrugged. "Ok then, Second: Piñata," he read. "Is that out in the backyard?" Naruto thought for a moment. Then he ran to the backyard to look. He came back a few seconds later shaking his head. "Third: Lunch and cake," Jiraiya looked at his watch. "It's way too early for that." He sighed and put the list back in his pocket. "Is there anything you want to do before lunch?" he asked.

"Soccer!" a few kids shouted at the same time.

"Alright, Naruto go get your soccer ball and whoever wants to play can go play in the back yard," Jiraiya said. Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino followed Naruto out back. He got them the ball, set up two nets, and went back in the house.

As those five played outside and took turns being the referee, Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara, Chouji, and Sasuke sat in the house and watched TV. Jiraiya didn't feel the need to sit there with them since they weren't doing anything wrong, so he went upstairs to read and take a nap. Shikamaru looked over at Sasuke. "Why did you come?" he asked.

"I don't need to tell you that," he said.

"No, but you should tell Naruto, you did come to his house," he told him. Sasuke sighed.

"My brother is busy with his friends again today, and my mom and dad are at work. So I came here," he told him.

"Well I'm glad you came instead of mopping around at home about your brother not playing with you," Naruto said. Sasuke glared at him.

"What happened that weekend between me and my brother will never be spoken of again, got that?" he asked. Naruto nodded and looked away from him. Sasuke sighed. "But thank you again for helping me that day," he said. Naruto smiled at him.

"You're welcome," he said.

A few minutes later the kids playing soccer came back into the house. "Naruto, what do you have to drink?" Kiba asked as he slammed the back door behind him.

"Pop," Naruto told him. "But Jiraiya has to poor it."

"Where is he anyways?" Ino asked. Naruto sighed.

"I'll go get him," he said racing up stairs. Soon Jiraiya came down. He pored the drinks angrily, a few extra cups, and then the stormed back up stairs. Naruto came down again a few seconds later. Everyone took a plastic glass and had a drink. Then Hinata, Shino, Ino, and Kiba went back outside. Sakura, however, sat down beside Sasuke.

"Why are you sitting in here with these losers?" she asked.

"Well it is Naruto's birthday party," he told her.

"Yeah, but when has that ever mattered to you?" she asked. Sasuke didn't say anything, he just sighed angrily. Sakura seemed to get what he was saying, though, and got up to go back and play soccer. But as she left she whispered in Naruto's ear. "You better not steal my Sasuke away from me," she told him. Naruto looked at her a little confused, but she ignored this and went outside.

Soon it was time for lunch. The kids playing soccer came back into the house, and Naruto ran upstairs and woke Jiraiya up. This started a bit of yelling. "What do you want now!"  
"It's lunch time!"  
"So, eat the chips on the table down there!"  
"No, we want lunch not a snack!"  
"Well too bad kid, I'm sleeping!"  
"I'm telling my dad when he gets home!"  
"Alright, alright, I'm coming down!"  
"Thank you!" Naruto raced back down stairs. He noticed everyone was looking at the stairway. "He's coming now," Naruto told them with a smile. They didn't say anything, so Naruto just sat back down by Shikamaru.

"Are you sure you're not babysitting him?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think I am," he said.

"Is he really fit to be watching a children's party?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, and what's with you Uzumaki's and having weird friends?" Ino asked.

"And why was he trying to get my mom to come in when we got here?" Kiba asked.

"I think we should call our parents and go home," Shino said.

"I bagged my uncle to not let him come, but he told me it would be fine," Naruto told them with a sigh. "Don't ask me all these questions. I tried to get him to go when he got here." Jiraiya came down the stairs and no one said anything more about the matter.

When lunch was done everyone went into the kitchen. Jiraiya had made about a bag of chicken nuggets and fries. "There, eat, then you can have cake," he said grumpily. The kids examined the food first before eating it to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with it, because they questioned his cooking abilities, and then dug in when they thought it was safe. Once they were almost full Jiraiya took the leftovers and stuck them in the fridge. Then he took the cake out of the fridge. They sang happy birthday to Naruto, and then Jiraiya cut them each a slice. Soon they were done the cake too, and Jiraiya put what was left of that in the fridge. Then he pulled out the paper from his pocket. "Four: Open gifts and play with them until parents pick up kids," he read with a sigh. "Alright, everyone back in the living room." The kids did as he said.

Once they were back in the living room and were all sitting down they took turns giving Naruto his gifts. Shikamaru got him a picture book, Chouji got him a big bag of chips, Gaara got him a drawing book that looked almost like his, Shino got him and ant farm, Kiba got him money, Hinata got him a bag of candy and a little spinning top, Ino got him some flower seeds, Sakura got him money, and Sasuke got him money. Naruto looked over his gifts. The only thing that he could see himself not using was the flower seeds. But he didn't care. It was Ino who go them for him after all. Jiraiya looked at all the things too, and then stood up as Naruto stuck all his money in his pocket. "Ok, you're parents will be here in a few hours. Go play," he told them. They didn't move.

"You can play with any of this stuff," he told them as he handed the big bag of chips to Jiraiya who opened them and dumped them in an empty bowl. Then he put the bowl on the floor so everyone could get to it.

Soon everyone was playing with the things they had got Naruto; except for the people that had got him money. Shino, Chouji, and Kiba were looking at the ant farm, Shikamaru was looking over the book he got him to make sure it was good, Gaara was drawing Naruto a picture in the drawing book, Hinata and Sasuke were playing around with the spinning top, and Sakura and Ino were looking at the bag of flower seeds. "Got any flower pots?" Ino asked Jiraiya.

"How should I know, this isn't my house," he told her. He was still grumpy from being awaken from his nap. Ino sighed and she and Sakura went over to Naruto.

"Help us find a flower pot," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it's your house, and these won't get planted innless we do it for you," she told him. Ino was probably right. Naruto probably would have thrown the seeds in the trash if she never planted them for him. He led her and Sakura outside to a little shed where he had gotten the soccer ball. They went inside and found a nice little pot, the only one not broken, and brought it back in the house. Then they got Shino to dig some dirt up for them, in case there was a worm or something in it, and put it in the pot. Then they put the seeds in and added water, and put it on the kitchen table. "All done," Ino said happily. Naruto just looked at her and Sakura.

"That's it? Where's the flowers?" he asked. Ino laughed.

"You have to wait a while, keep it in sun, and water it every day. Then the flowers will start growing," she told him. He sighed, but nodded to show he understood, and led them back to the living room.

By the end of the party the chips Chouji got Naruto and the candy Hinata got him were gone. Everyone had eaten all the chips and then asked Naruto if they could have the candy too. So Naruto let them. After a few minutes people started leaving. Sakura's dad and Ino's dad came at the same time and took their daughters and left quickly. Then Hinata's dad came to pick her up with her cousin Neji. Next Kiba's sister and mom picked him up, and Shino's dad came at the same time to pick him up.

Now it was just Gaara, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sasuke. Jiraiya was sitting in the chair by the window, and was talking to himself. "Why did I have to come watch a kid's party for hours when I could have been out doing research? It was such a stupid idea to agree to this. I mean not even one mom wanted to stay and talk for a little bit. And how am I suppose to know if their married or not when their husbands don't come with them," he said as he drank some pop and ate some leftover snacks.

"Maybe you could have looked at their hands and saw that they had rings on," Shikamaru said under his breath. Jiraiya turned to him.

"What did you say boy?" he asked angrily.

"Nothing," Shikamaru said getting scared.

"That's what I thought," he said. "Now when are you four brats leaving so I can go to sleep?"

"My uncle should be here soon," Gaara told him.

"Shikamaru and I just leave when we feel like it. We live down the street," Chouji told him.

"My brother's supposed to come and walk me home," he told him. Shikamaru laughed.

"Well then I guess you're never leaving," he said. "Have fun with Sasuke as your new brother, Naruto." Sasuke glared at him.

"Shut up Nara," he said. "If he doesn't come by supper time my mom will come get me." Shikamaru just smirked a little and went back to watching the show they had playing on the TV.

After about half an hour Temari came to the door. She told Gaara they were in a hurry and their uncle sent her in to get him. So Gaara said goodbye to everyone and raced out to the car. Once he was gone Naruto picked up the drawing book Gaara had given him. He opened it up to the first page where Gaara had drawn him something. When Naruto saw it he went wide eyed. Gaara had drawn a picture of their whole class playing together happily. There wasn't anyone being left out and everyone was playing with the people they hated or never really talked to. Everyone was smiling and having fun. Naruto closed the book and noticed Shikamaru and Chouji were looking over his shoulder at it. "Gaara's really talented," Shikamaru said.

"Do you think he can predict the future?" Chouji asked.

"I wish he could," Naruto said with a sigh putting the book down beside him.

The phone rang halfway through the show the four kids were watching. Jiraiya sighed and got up to get it. As soon as he hung up it rang again. He answered again. Soon he came back into the living room. "Shikamaru, Chouji, both you're fathers want to you home in an hour for dinner," he said not really caring. He sat back down in his chair and pulled a book out of his coat pocket. Naruto looked over at him.

"Don't read that in here, dad says you shouldn't read it around me," he told him. Jiraiya sighed.

"Then don't look at it, ask about it, or come read it over my shoulder," he told him. "It's that simple." Naruto shook his head.

"Put it away or you'll get in trouble," he told him.

"Excuse me, who is the one watching who here?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto didn't say anything. "That's what I thought," Jiraiya said. "Now leave me to read." Naruto sighed and went back to looking at the TV.

A few minutes later Jiraiya put down his book and glanced out the window. He stood up and started to head for the back door. "Where are you going?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya stopped.

"You're dad's home, he's pulling up in the driveway," he told him. Naruto went wide eyed.

"Are you sure it's not my uncle?" he asked remembering Sasuke was still there and didn't know Iruka was his uncle. Jiraiya nodded.

"It's your father," he told him. Then he continued to the back door. Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other and smiled. Naruto glared at them, and their smiles left.

"You're not going to see my dad," he told them.

"But why can't we see him?" Chouji asked.

"Because you don't need to," Naruto told him. Sasuke looked over at the three boys and joined in now.

"You mean you've never seen Naruto's dad before?" he asked. "Is he a secret?" Naruto glared at Shikamaru and Chouji more intensely now.

"See, now you got Sasuke asking about it too," he told them.

"Who cares about Uchiha? You can just make him sit outside on the step while we meet your dad," Shikamaru told him.

"I'm not sitting outside on the step, Nara," Sasuke yelled at him.

"Well you don't have a choice if he tells you to because it's his house!" Shikamaru yelled back. Naruto stood up and stomped his foot. The three boys looked at him.

"No one is sitting outside, and no one is seeing my dad! Now just be quite and watch TV!" he yelled at them. They didn't say anything back; they just continued to stare at him. He pointed to the TV, and their heads snapped over and looked at it.

As Naruto went to sit back down Jiraiya called him over, to see his dad. "I'll come later!" Naruto yelled. "I have people still here!"

"Naruto, you haven't seen me in two days, come say hello to me!" Naruto's dad yelled.

"Yeah, but you haven't seen Jiraiya in months! Talk to him!" Naruto yelled back.

"Naruto Uzumaki, get your butt in here right now!" his dad yelled angrily.

"But I have guests!" Naruto told him.

"Fine, then I'm coming in there!" he told him.

"No don't, I'm coming!" Naruto told him getting up off the couch and racing to the back door. "I love you dad!"

Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other and smirked. Then they got up and started to head in the direction Naruto went. "Where are you guys going?" Sasuke asked.

"Be quiet, we're going to sneak a peek at Naruto's dad," Shikamaru told him. Sasuke went wide eyed, and then smirked.

"I'm coming too," he said.

"Uchiha what part of, 'you're not our friend, and you bully us, so you can't do things with us,' do you not get?" Shikamaru asked.

"Fine, but don't get mad when I yell to Naruto about what you're doing," he told him. Shikamaru sigh.

"Fine, you can come," he said. Sasuke smirked and stood up. Then he followed the two boys towards the back door.


	21. Mystery of Naruto’s Dad Solved

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sasuke went quietly to the back door of Naruto's house. They didn't want Naruto to notice them and chaise them away before they got to see his dad. Shikamaru put his hand out to stop the other two boys. Then he peeked around the corner to the back door. He sighed and looked away. "What's wrong?" Chouji asked in a whisper.

"That creepy guy is in the way, I can't see anything passed him," Shikamaru told him. Sasuke pushed Chouji and Shikamaru out of the way and looked around the corner to see for himself.

"He's right," he said leaning against the wall.

"What, did you think I was lying to you guys?" Shikamaru asked a little annoyed.

"Maybe I did think you were lying, Nara," Sasuke said raising his voice a little.

"I would never lie about something like this, Uchiha. At least not to Chouji," Shikamaru told him raising his voice too.

"Guys, be quiet they'll hear you," Chouji told them in a whisper.

"Shut up Akimichi, no one asked you," Sasuke said in a half yell.

"Hey, stop talking to my friend like that!" Shikamaru said yelling now.

"Why don't you try and make me stop?!" Sasuke yelled back as Naruto came running over to them.

"What are you guys doing over here?!" Naruto yelled at all three of them.

"It was Nara's and Akimichi's idea, and they forced me to come with them," Sasuke told him.

"We did not," Chouji said.

"Yeah, you wanted to come! We told you to stay behind!" Shikamaru yelled at him. Sasuke and Shikamaru continued to fight as Chouji stood there watching and Naruto yelled at them to stop. Naruto told all three of them to go back to the living room and he'd be right there, but they didn't listen. They came this far to see Naruto's dad, and none of them wanted to back out now. They didn't care that Naruto knew they were there anymore. They were going to see his dad before they left. This made Naruto even angrier and start to yell more, which made the fight get even louder between Sasuke and Shikamaru.

Jiraiya came around the corner a few seconds later. "What in the world is going on here? Can't you kids leave me in peace once today?" he asked angrily. The four boys looked up at him.

"Where's Naruto's dad? Sasuke asked.

"Still at the door, I told him to wait while I settled you guys down. Now go back into the living room and wait quietly for your parents," Jiraiya told them.

"See, my dad doesn't want to see you guys. Now go!" Naruto yelled at them and pointed in the direction of the living room.

"Why can't we see him?" Chouji asked.

"Yeah, what's so bad about your dad?" Sasuke asked.

"There isn't anything wrong with him, you guys just don't need to see him," Naruto told them.

"Well there is obviously some reason besides that, that makes you not want us to see him," Shikamaru said. Naruto shook his head.

"Well I don't really care anyways. Like I said, it's Nara and Akimichi's idea to come over here," Sasuke told Naruto.

"Well, if you didn't care, then how come you're not back in the living room yet, Uchiha, if you really didn't care you would have left this fight by now," Shikamaru told him.

"I'm not back in the living room yet because this fight is the funniest thing we've done all day," Sasuke told him.

"You just like bullying us," he said.

"Well there is that too," Sasuke said trailing off. Jiraiya sighed and turned and looked around the corner. He gave a shrug and then turned back to the boys.

"Can you please continue this fight somewhere else?" he asked them, but they didn't listen. They just continued to yell at each other, and Shikamaru and Sasuke were close to hitting each other. The fight wasn't even really about Naruto's dad anymore it had turned into a fight about Sasuke and his friends bullying Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Gaara.

Jiraiya took a deep breath. "Alright, that's enough out of you! I don't know how this fight started or why, and I don't know why you three went against Naruto's trust and came over here, but I can't stand it anymore! You better stop fighting now, or I'm kicking you all out of the house!" he yelled at them. The boys fell quiet; Jiraiya was scary when he was angry. Then Naruto looked up at Jiraiya.

"You can't do that, you're not babysitting anymore," he said.

"Oh well then, how about I go get your dad in here and he can tell you the same thing I just did!" Jiraiya told Naruto. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted.

"You won't have to come get me, Jiraiya, because I'm already here," the voice of Naruto's dad said.

Everyone looked over quickly to see Naruto's dad step around the corner with an angry and annoyed look on his face. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sasuke's jaws dropped. Seeing him made them realize why Naruto didn't want people to know who his dad was. If people knew who he was they would have treated Naruto differently at school. Everyone would probably have been afraid to bully him because of who his dad was. They would all try to suck up to him and be his friend. Naruto knew all this and that's why he kept it a secret. He didn't want people treating him differently just because of who his dad was.

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto and then back at Naruto's dad a few times before he broke the silence. "Naruto, did you know your dad's the mayor?" he asked. Naruto didn't answer this stupid question, he just sighed.

"Now you see why I didn't want people knowing who my dad was," he told him angrily.

"I still don't get why you didn't," his dad said. "I just went along with it to make you happy. I'm never here anyways." Naruto glared at his dad.

"It's because if people know who you are then they'll treat me different," he told him.

"I'll say, they would," Sasuke said still looking shocked.

"Well I'm sorry, but when a fight has been going on as long as it did, and was as bad as it was, than it's my job as a parent of one of the kids in it to step in and stop it," he told Naruto.

"Yeah well, now since Sasuke knows he's going to tell everyone," Naruto told him crossing his arms. Everyone looked at Sasuke.

"I won't tell anyone," he told them under his breath.

"Not even your brother?" Chouji asked. Sasuke paused for a moment then sighed.

"I won't even tell my brother," he told him. "He doesn't really do anything with me anymore anyways."

Naruto's dad smiled and looked at the time. "Well then, since that's all settled I want you all to apologize to each other. Then I want you to go back into the living room and watch TV or something until Sasuke gets picked up, Jiraiya you'll answer the door like you're still babysitting. Once Sasuke is gone, Chouji and Shikamaru, I want you to head home, it's getting late. After that, Naruto, we'll have dinner with Jiraiya," he told everyone. "Now get going, I have some new polices to look at for a big meeting tomorrow and I don't want to be disturbed." They nodded apologized in front of Naruto's dad, and then headed to the living room.

Soon Sasuke's mom was there to pick him up. Jiraiya answered the door and Sasuke raced over. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji gave him a look as he was going over. "Relax, I won't tell," he told them quietly so his mom couldn't hear, and then left the house. After Sasuke and him mom had drove away Shikamaru, and Chouji said good-bye and headed home so it was just Naruto and Jiraiya. They sat there watching TV for a bit before Naruto's dad came into the room. "So you guys want to order pizza and watch the game?" he asked. Naruto and Jiraiya grinned when they turned to answer him. He was wearing jeans with holes in the knees and a white T-shirt instead of the fancy suit and tie he had come into the house with.

"Pizza and the game, that sounds great," Jiraiya told him. Naruto nodded.

"Good, because I don't feel like cooking, and my brother isn't here," he said grabbing the phone and dialling the number for the pizza place. Jiraiya took the TV remote from Naruto and turned on the football game.

Naruto liked when his dad was in pizza and football mode. It was much better then when he was being the mayor, because there were no fights. When Naruto's dad was busy with mayor things there was always a fight going on in the house, but once his dad put on those jeans and that T-shirt everything calmed down, it was like he was a whole different person. He went from trying to run the town, and not caring about anything else, to a dad. Naruto knew his dad's job was important and that he should look up to him for it, which he did, but he just liked being around his dad when he was actually being a dad better.

Naruto's dad hung up the phone and went back into the living room. He sat down beside Naruto on the couch, and they watched the game as they waited for their pizza, and Iruka, to come home.


	22. An Eventful Recess

The weekend was over and school was on again. When Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji walked into the teacher less class room, it was like nothing changed. Everyone was still in their little groups, and they stared at the three as they walked into the class room and went over to Gaara. Then they ignored them again. The only thing that they found was different about the class was Sasuke. He wasn't staring out the window waiting for class to start. He was glancing towards Naruto while giving him evil smiles. "Do you think he's thinking about telling everyone about your dad?" Shikamaru asked.

"He probably will," Naruto said with a sigh.

"He said he wouldn't though," Chouji told him.

"When has that ever stopped him from doing something?" Shikamaru asked him. Chouji didn't answer.

Gaara was working in his book again while his friends were talking, but had soon stopped and looked up at them. "What is there to tell about Naruto's dad, none of us know him," Gaara said. His three friends looked at him.

"We saw him last night after you left," Shikamaru told him. "And Sasuke was still there."

"Well how come you guys got to see and I never?" he asked.

"Because they tried to sneak a look without me knowing, and a fight started. Then my dad came to stop it and they saw him," Naruto told him. Gaara looked at Shikamaru and Chouji with a disappointed look on his face.

"And Sasuke knows too because he invited himself to come look with us," Shikamaru told Gaara.

"I still don't get why it's such a big deal if everyone knows," Gaara said still a little confused.

"You'd understand if you knew who his dad was," Chouji told him.

"Well, tell me who he is then," he said.

"I'm not telling you during class," Naruto said. "At recess I will." Gaara sighed and nodded. Then went back to what he was working on in his book as Kakashi came in.

The bell rang and they went to their usual spot on the hill. When they sat down Gaara looked at Naruto. Naruto looked back at him, and started to tell him what happened after he left the part. Gaara went wide-eyed when Naruto told him about his dad being the mayor. "But why wouldn't you want anyone to know about that?" Gaara asked Naruto once he was done.

"Because then they'll treat me differently," Naruto told him.

"Yeah, in a good way though," he said.

"That's not the point," he told him crossing his arms.

"Well what is it then?" Gaara asked. Naruto sighed and told him why he didn't want people to know. After Naruto was done Gaara understood, and didn't talk about it anymore.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara sat on the hill in silence for a few minutes. Then Gaara's brother and sister came over to them. "So, what are you guys up to? Usual it you're talking, but it's really quiet right now," Temari said sitting down behind them with Kankuro.

"We were talking, but there's nothing to talk about now," Shikamaru told her. He was looking up watching the clouds.

"So what, you guys are just going to sleep here now or something?" Kankuro asked. Nobody said anything.

"Why don't you guys go play soccer for once?" Temari asked. The four boys looked at her.

"Are you kidding?" Gaara asked. She shook her head.

"They won't even let us play," Naruto told her.

"Well, come and play with us then," she said with a smile. Kankuro looked over at her too now.

"What, do we have to invite these little kids to play with us?" Kankuro asked her.

"They're only one year younger then you," Temari told him roller her eyes.

"Still, I don't want them playing with us," he told her.

"Well too bad, you can play by yourself then," she told him standing up. "Come on guys." Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara looked at each other, and then at Temari. She motioned for them to come again, and the stood up and followed her quietly. Kankuro sighed angrily, but followed her too.

The group walked together across the field. They were going all the way to the other side where the grade four, five, and six's played their games. It was the field Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji would by going to during recess next year. But right now they were still only in grade three, and kids under grade four were hardly ever seen over there. As they walked over with Temari and Kankuro older kids would stop once in a while to see who they were, and what was going on. They would only look for a few seconds though, and then go back to their games.

They got to the soccer field where some grade fives they didn't know were waiting with Hinata's cousin Neji and his friends, Tenten and Lee, in grade four. "You called timeout on the game to walk all the way over to the grade one to three field and get some little kids?" Lee asked Kankuro a little confused.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea. It was Temari's. I didn't even want these little brats to come over here, but she insisted that we bring them," Kankuro told him.

"Well are they any good?" Tenten asked. Temari shrugged.

"I've never seen them play, and they never play at recess because the other kids won't let them," she told her.

"So you brought them over here because you felt sorry for them?" Neji asked.

"No," she said.

"Well that's what it sounds like to me," he told her.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara stood there quietly watching the older kids fight. Finally Naruto spoke up. "Um, we could leave if you want us to," he said. Neji, Tenten, Lee, Temari, Kankuro, and the grade fives looked at them.

"No, you're staying," Temari told them.

"But we don't even know if they're good," Lee told her.

"So, we can still let them play. We need four more people anyways, they can be defence," she told him. Temari and Kankuro's friends sighed angrily, but let Naruto and his friends play. They knew that if they didn't Temari wouldn't leave them alone and the game would never start.

Soon recess was over, and both teams were tied for points. They admitted the four boys were good, even though they were little kids, and said they could play again at lunch for the tie breaker game. Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Chouji agreed to come back and play, and then they headed to class. They had to go all the way back to the other end of the school and through the grade three doors to get to class. All of the grade threes were lined up at the doors already and were waiting to get in. So Naruto and his friends had to run to get there on time. If they didn't they would have to go through the front doors by the office, and would most likely get in trouble.

On the way over though, they had to pass the grade six doors. As they started to run by Itachi and his friends stopped them. "What are you little brats doing over here?" Kisame asked.

"We were playing soccer," Chouji told him.

"What, you couldn't play with your own grade so you had to go and bug the big kids?" Sasori asked. They never said anything. "Answer me when I ask you a question!" Sasori yelled raising his fist. Itachi grabbed it and stopped him from doing anything to the boys.

"Calm down Sasori, we're at a school," he told him. Sasori lowered his fist and looked to the ground. "You know it's rude to not answer people older than you, right? We are the bosses of you little kids," Itachi told Naruto and his friends. They nodded. "Then why didn't you answer Sasori? You know he would have hurt you pretty badly right now if I hadn't reminded him we were at school," he told them. They never said anything. Itachi sighed. "If you're going to be like this we're going to have to teach you how to treat people older than you the hard way," he told them. Naruto and his friends said sorry.

"I guess we have to threaten them to get anywhere," Deidara said crossing his arms.

"These four play with your little brother, don't they? Maybe that's why he has no respect for you anymore," Kisame said. Itachi looked at him.

"My brother would never play with worthless losers like these four," he told him giving him an evil glare. Kisame backed away and Itachi turned back to Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara. "Anyways, you guys better run along now, I can see your grade getting let in now. But before you go, did you learn anything from us?" he asked them. They nodded. "Good, now go before we change our minds about letting you off easy," he said. Naruto and his friends nodded again. Then they ran as fast as they could to their doors.


	23. Saved By Sasuke

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara got to the class on time. Everyone was already in it and sitting down when they got there, but Kakashi wasn't in the room so they took it as being on time. They sat down at the table in the front. Everyone else was still talking to their friends and took over Shikamaru's and Chouji's seats at their tables. The four boys sat there looking at the clock wondering when their teacher would get into the class.

After a while Kiba came up to the group. "So, why were you guys late getting in?" Kiba asked. "And where did you go off to a recess?" The four friends looked up him.

"None of your business," Gaara told him. Kiba opened his mouth to say something, but Kakashi walked into the class and he stopped.

"What's going on here? I don't remember those being your seats everyone. Get into your assigned seats so we can start class," he said in a tired voice walking over to his desk.

As soon as it was time to go outside again Naruto and his friends raced over to the field where the older kids played soccer. They played the whole time without stopping, and in the end Temari's team, who had Naruto and Gaara on it, won the tie breaker game. The other team, with Shikamaru and Chouji, demanded a rematch, Temari's team agreed to have one the next recess. Naruto and his friends agreed to come back again the next day at recess to play. Then they headed back to their door to get into the school.

When they got into the class and sat down Kiba went over to them again. Naruto and his friends looked at him. "Where were you guys?" he asked them. They ignored him and looked away. "Answer me!" he yelled, but they didn't listen and now the whole class was looking over at them. Sakura and Ino got up and walked over to the boys now too.

"What's going on?" Ino asked Kiba as they got there.

"They won't answer me when I ask them where they were at recess," he told them. Ino and Sakura looked at each other and back at him

"Why do you even care where they go? Wouldn't you rather have them away from you than sitting there on that hill watching us?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah I would, but they could be planning something," Kiba told her. The two girls just sighed and shook their heads and Kiba turned his attention back to Naruto and his friends. "So where were you guys?" he asked again. But they just continued to ignore him. Kiba was getting angry now and he raised his fist. "If you don't tell me then I'm going to make you tell me," he told them.

"I know where they went," Sasuke said in a calm, quiet voice as he looked out the window. Kiba looked over at him and dropped his fist.

"Where did they go?" he asked. Sasuke just looked at Kiba, and then looked away back out the window.

"I don't feel like telling you," he said with a sigh. Kiba started to get angry again.

"Whose side are you on Uchiha? Ours, or those losers?!" he asked.

"I'm not on anyone's side," he told him. Kiba lowered his voice to a calmer one.

"I don't know what happened to you Sasuke, but you're not the kid I use to know," he said. Then he went back to his seat to wait for the teacher to come.

Everyone was talking. Kakashi had given them a group art project with the people at their table. They were to take turns tracing each other on a big piece of paper. Then they had to take the tracing of themselves and draw on clothes and color it. It wasn't much of a group project, but they needed help with the tracing and Kakashi only had three boxes of markers to use. So he called it a group project knowing they wouldn't share with each other if he didn't.

Most people were done tracing, and were now coloring them. Since the whole room was noisy, Shikamaru took this time to talk to Sasuke so no one, except Hinata, would hear. "Thanks for stopping Kiba from bullying us," he said to Sasuke. Sasuke had his head resting on one hand and was staring broadly at the paper as he coloured.

"Just think of it as repaying you for helping me with my brother, and not telling anyone about it," he told him. "But it's not happening again, got it?" Shikamaru nodded and went back to coloring, smiling a little inside.


	24. A Broken Sasuke

The next few weeks went by nicely for Naruto and his friends. They went and played soccer with the older kids almost every day, the only time they never was when they felt like just sitting on their hill, and no one really bugged them about anything. But eventually all good things have to come to an end, and so did the four boys good luck.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara played in the park. It was the first time all year that Gaara's uncle allowed him to play with this friends on the weekend. Usually he said no because they lived so far away, but this time was different. Naruto had invited Gaara to sleep over at his house for the weekend. Gaara's uncle was so happy that he had made such good friends in school for the first time that he said yes almost instantly. Another reason that Naruto wanted to invite Gaara over was because he was the only friend that never saw his dad. He felt bad about it and it had seemed, to him, like Sasuke saw his dad in Gaara's place. So to make up for it Naruto decided to invite him over. That way he would be able to see Naruto's dad, like his other two friends, and play with them that weekend. So there they were. Playing around in the park all together for the first time and having lots of fun. At least that's what it was like before a group of boys decided to come bully them.

Gaara was sitting and playing in the sad, Naruto was trying to be 'ninja' by climbing up a slide, Chouji was sitting on a swing not swinging, and Shikamaru was sitting at the top of the slide Naruto was climbing trying to convince him it was impossible for him to get up without taking the ladder. Everything was nice like it had been all week. But then a group of boys came over to the park. They stood there watching the four boys for a few seconds, and then yelled to them. "Hey, what are you little losers doing?" Itachi asked. Naruto slid to the bottom of the slide, which he managed to get halfway up, and looked at them, Shikamaru stopped talking and turned his head towards them, Gaara got up from the sand and went over to Chouji, and Chouji got off the swing and looked at the boys. Itachi glared at the four angrily. "I asked you guys a question," he told them.

"Yeah, don't you remember what we taught you guys about answering questions?" Kisame asked them. They nodded.

"Well then answer me, what are you losers doing?" Itachi asked again.

"W-We're just playing," Naruto told him. Itachi laughed.

"Well you guys are going to have to leave," he told them.

"Yeah, we're playing here now," Kisame told them.

"And we don't want a bunch of little kids around, especial you guys," Sasori added. Deidara nodded. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Gaara managed to say something first.

"Well that's too bad, because we don't feel like leaving," he told them in a voice that didn't really have any emotion to it.

"What did you just say?" Deidara asked a little surprised and confused.

"I said that we're not leaving," Gaara told him.

"Why you little," Itachi said clenching his fist. "Do I have to give you another lesson about respecting people older than you? I thought the first one might have been enough." He started to walk towards Gaara.

"Wait, stop!" came a voice from behind the group of boys. Now that Itachi had moved a bit Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara could see another pair of shoes. And judging by the size of them the person was younger than the other boys.

Itachi turned around to look at the person who had yelled out. "What do you mean 'wait, stop!'?" he asked. "I thought you wanted to hang out with me, because if you do then you better not try to stop me from doing what I'm doing."

"But they aren't bugging you, and they were here first. You can't just kick them out," said the voice. It was a voice that the other boys recognized, but couldn't quite say who it belonged to. Itachi sighed angrily.

"You're such an annoying little pest. First you cry because I won't play with you. Then when I let you come with me and my friends you try to get in the way of what we're doing. And I bet if I just left you here you'd start crying again. So make up your mind already! Are you letting me do what I have to do, or are you going to let yourself end up crying?!" he asked in an anger that scared Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara.

"I-"the boy's voice started. "You don't _have_ to do this to them, you just want to," he mumbled. Itachi clenched his fist tighter and raised it. But then he lowered it and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong Itachi? Hit the brat already," Kisame said. Itachi shook his head.

"If he goes home hurt in anyway mom will get mad at me, and I'll be grounded," he told him.

"Man, that sucks," Deidara said putting his hands behind his head. "So we're just ditching the little kid then?" Itachi nodded and he and his friends walked away from the boy.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara watched as Sasuke just stood there and watched his brother walk away from him. Then he fell down onto the ground and just stared at the sky. The four boys looked at each other and then back at Sasuke. Naruto ran over to Sasuke and crouched down beside him while the others just stood there not knowing if they should go over too or not. "Hey, you ok?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at Naruto and then back at the sky as he whipped the tear trails off his face with his shirt sleeve.

"Leave me alone," he said in a muffled voice into the sleeve. Naruto didn't move. Sasuke moved his hand back to his side, and then sat up, and Naruto moved to sit down too now. "He wasn't always like that to me," Sasuke told Naruto. He guessed he was talking about Itachi. "We use to play all the time, and he was never mean to anyone else. When everyone started bullying you guys he told me to stay out of it. He told me that if I started to be a bully then he'd hate me. But I didn't want to lose my friends, so I helped them a little. Then Itachi started hanging out with those guys, and he hates me now. So I thought that maybe if I was a little nice to you guys and stuff that he'd like me again and he'd play with me." Tears started to roll down Sasuke's face again. "But he still hates me. And it seems like he hates me even more now that I'm sticking up for you guys. I don't know what to do! I want the old Itachi back!" Sasuke told Naruto struggling to talk over his crying. He whipped his tears away with his other sleeve this time and sniffed.

"It's ok," Naruto told him. "We can help you get the old Itachi back, and if he doesn't come back than you always have us to come and talk to." Sasuke looked up at Naruto, and without thinking hugged Naruto like he would hug his old brother and said thank you. Then he let go and stood up.

"I have to go now, mom said to be home for lunch," he told Naruto still sounding sad and like he was on the edge of tears. Then he ran off in the direction his brother had gone just a little while before.


	25. Crazy Sleepover

Gaara looked around Naruto's room. It was small and there were clothes and toys lying all over the floor. It was hard to walk in the room without stepping on some unknown object, and when Gaara did step on something it either hurt his foot, or felt wet. Naruto went in first and sat on the bed. Gaara followed him and went and sat beside him. "So, what do you want to do now?" Naruto asked his friend. They had just gotten home from the park, and it was only an hour or so before supper time.

"I don't know, what is there to do?" Gaara asked him. Naruto sat there and thought for a moment.

"We could go play in the backyard," Naruto suggested.

"We just played outside all day," Gaara sighed. Naruto didn't say anything he just sighed too and fell back onto his bed staring at the roof as Gaara looked out the window.

A few seconds later Naruto's uncle and dad came into the room. "Naruto, what do you guys want for dinner?" Minato asked ignoring the mess in his son's room.

"I don't know, it doesn't matter," Naruto told him.

"What would you like?" he asked turning to Gaara. Gaara just shrugged as Iruka whispered something in Naruto's dad's ear. Minato sighed. "Naruto, clean up this mess and we'll bring a TV in here so you guys can play video games," he told him.

"What, why should he get rewarded for cleaning his room, he should get the TV after keeping it clean for a few days," Iruka told him.

"But he has a friend over," Minato told him. Iruka sighed.

"You really don't know how to take care of a kid," he told him. Naruto's dad laughed.

"That's why you're here," he said patting him on the back. Then he turned back to Naruto. "Still, after you clean up you can have the TV and video games," he told him. Iruka sighed and he and Minato left the room.

Naruto sat on his bed looking at the door his dad and uncle just left through. Then he fell back down onto his bed and sighed. Gaara looked at him. "Aren't you going to clean up?" he asked him. Naruto shook his head.

"My dad will give us the TV and video games anyways after supper if we bug him enough," he told him rolling over onto his side.

"I kind of want to play now though," Gaara told him. Naruto sighed.

"Fine, if you help me then I'll do it," he said. Gaara sighed but agreed, and they got to work cleaning.

After a few minutes the two boys were done cleaning. Gaara went and sat back down on Naruto's bed as Naruto went into the hallway. He called his dad and uncle back to his room asking for the video games, so they came to look. Once they decided the room was actually clean, they left to go get the stuff. They came back with a small TV and video games. Iruka and Minato set it up for Naruto and Gaara, and then left the room again to finish making dinner.

Naruto and Gaara played video games until it was time to eat. Then they went downstairs to the dining room. When they got there Iruka was setting the food down on the table. He had made some spaghetti. As Naruto and Gaara sat down Naruto's dad came into the room. Iruka gave him a look as if to say 'you could have helped a little', bur Minato ignored it and sat down. The dinner started off quiet and calm, but that didn't last long.

Naruto was twirled his spaghetti on his fork and lifting it up to his mouth, but every time he did it would just fall off. He sighed and picked up a piece with his fingers, put one end in his mouth, and sucked it in. It flew around as it went into his mouth and splashed tomato sauce. Gaara watched him eat with a confused look on his face. "Naruto, please use your fork," Iruka said.

"But my fork is defective, it doesn't work," Naruto said crossing his arms.

"Naruto, you just got pasta sauce all over your hands, now your arms are dirty too," he told him angrily.

"So, it'll come off," he told him sticking his fingers in his spaghetti and then rubbing them all over his arms.

"Minato, your son is making a mess," Iruka told him.

"Naruto, don't make a mess when you have a friend over. It makes Iruka and I look bad," Minato told Naruto without looking up from his dinner.

"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like he does this all the time!" Iruka yelled.

"Well doesn't he do it all the time?" Minato asked. Iruka didn't say anything, and Minato gave a little chuckle while Naruto continued to eat with his fingers taking one noodle at a time.

A little while later Naruto sighed. He looked down at his dirty hands, and then at his dad. "Do we have a cloth to for me to clean my hands on?" he asked. Minato just shrugged, so Naruto looked at Iruka.

"If you get up and get it," he told him.

"I don't want to get up though," Naruto told him.

"Then I guess you'll just have to wait and wash your hands later," Iruka told him. Naruto sighed and looked back at his hands. He really didn't want the tomato sauce on his hands anymore. Naruto looked back up and saw Iruka, his dad, and Gaara concentrating on their meals. He looked back down at his hands, and then rubbed them on his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked. Naruto looked up to see the three other people at the table looking at him.

"They were dirty," Naruto told him. Iruka slammed his fist down on the table.

"I told you to get up and get the cloth, or wait until you were done!" he yelled.

"But I didn't like them being dirty, and I wanted them clean now!" Naruto yelled back.

"Well then you should have used a fork!" Iruka told him.

"I told you, mines defective! It wasn't working!" he told him. Iruka took a deep breath and stood up. He grabbed his plate and started to head over to the sink. "You forgot a piece!" Naruto yelled to him. Iruka turned at looked at him. He then picked up a little piece of spaghetti and threw it at Iruka making it hit his face. Iruka clenched his fist, put his plate down by the sink and then started to walk quickly over to Naruto. "Don't come any closer!" Naruto yelled. "I have tomato hands!" Iruka stopped and pointed a finger at him angrily.

"If you touch me with those dirty hands there will be big consequences young man!" he yelled.

"Well then get me a cloth to clean them," Naruto told him. Iruka clenched his fist.

"You're not the boss around here! Your father and I are!" he yelled. Naruto's eyes grew wide and his bottom lip quivered.

"I'm sorry!" he said getting up. He ran over to Iruka and wrapped his arms around him giving him a tomato hug. Iruka took a deep breath and pushed him away.

"You did not just do that," he said close to yelling again.

"Sorry?" Naruto asked. Iruka glared at Naruto and reached for his plate. He scooped up some sauce from his plate with his fingers and rubbed it on Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes went wide in shock.

"Only I can get myself dirty!" he yelled taking some of the sauce off his face and putting it on Iruka's shirt. Iruka blinked and reached for some more tomato sauce, but Minato stopped him.

"Boys please behave, we have a guest," he told him. Iruka walked over to him and slapped him lightly leaving a big red tomato hand print on his cheek.

"Since when are you the adult in this house, and since when do you tell people how to behave?" he asked calmly. "I'm always doing all the work around here; you have no right to tell me what to do." Minato chuckled.

"It's my house, I can choose to step in at any time I want," he told him. Iruka just laughed angrily and rubbed sauce across Minato's face. Then he turned to go back to the sink where he was starting to clean up. But as he turned around Minato stuck his whole hand in what was left of his meal, and patted Iruka on the back leaving a big hand print. Iruka turned and looked back at Minato shocked. Minato just smiled sweetly at him. Naruto how ever had crept back to his seat where there was still some spaghetti and sauce on his plate. Then he took a deep breath.

"Tag-team attack on uncle!" he yelled throwing the few pieces of spaghetti that was left on his plate at the back of Iruka's neck. Minato laughed and joined in putting some more sauce on the front of Iruka's shirt. Soon it was an all out spaghetti war.

When it was done Gaara sat there stunned. It looked like he had just sat through a bloody food fight. There was spaghetti and other things that had come out of the fridge all over the dining room. The three people that were involved in the food fight were covered in red tomato sauce that now looked somewhat like blood. The kitchen and dining room looked like they were never going to be completely clean, and there was so much sauce on the boys clothing that it looked like it would never come out. The three were now sitting back down at the table laughing and trying to catch their breath. After they were done Gaara spoke up.

"Does this happen lots?" he asked. The three guys looked at him. They had an expression on their faces that said they had forgotten all about him being there. They looked back at each other and laughed again.

"Yeah, something like this happens every dinner when my dad's home," Naruto told him grinning. Iruka and Minato nodded.

"Anyways, Gaara, why don't you go up stairs and play some games while we clean up and Naruto cleans himself up?" Iruka asked. Gaara nodded and rushed back for Naruto's room.


	26. Girls

The rest of the weekend was uneventful and went by quickly. Soon Naruto and Gaara were sitting at their table in class with Shino and Sakura. Like usual Sakura was ignoring them while complaining about Shino having another bug in the class, that Naruto and Gaara were fascinated by, and only getting slightly interested in the other two boys whenever Gaara took out his book to draw. It was like nothing changed over the weekend.

In the back of the room, though, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Hinata's table was a little different. Shikamaru and Sasuke were talking to each other without fighting. This made Hinata happier and made her want to join in more than she usually would. Kakashi even had to tell them to quite down several times making everyone else in the room curios as to what was going on with them.

At Chouji, Ino, and Kiba's table things were unusual too. Chouji and Kiba had actually grown to like talking to each other. They shared snacks, and Chouji had even started bringing extra stuff for Akamaru. They even found they had a few things in common, and they were talking like they were friends. This made Ino angry though, and she would cut into their conversations whispering to Kiba that if he continued to talk to Chouji he would be an outcast from the other kids. Of cores her comments didn't stick in his head long, and he would be talking to Chouji again.

Soon the bell rang for lunch recess, and it seemed to Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji that people were actually starting to like them after these few years. The boys in their class liked them now, Hinata had always liked them, and Temari and Kankuro's classes liked them. They were actually having conversations with the boys and Hinata that didn't end some type of fight, and Temari and Kankuro's classes were constantly inviting them to play soccer with them. The only people really left that didn't like them were Sasuke's brother's friends, and Ino and Sakura.

Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji sat in their favourite spot on the hill. They had rejected Temari and Kankuro's offer to play soccer with them this time because they had been playing with them almost every recess and they just wanted to relax now. Naruto sighed as he watched his class play soccer. "I don't get it," he said to himself but loud enough for the others to hear.

"Don't get what?" Shikamaru asked while laying down and staring up at the clouds moving by.

"I don't get why Sakura and Ino still hate us. No one else does," Naruto told him.

"Yeah other people do, Sasuke's brother and his friends," Gaara corrected him.

"Well they're different," Naruto said slightly angry. "They'll always hate us."

"Itachi never use to," Chouji told him. Naruto sighed angrily.

"Relax, we know what you mean," Shikamaru told him. "And Ino might hate all of us, but Sakura has grown to like Gaara." Gaara looked up from his drawing book and sighed.

"I wish she didn't like me. She's really annoying," he told him. Then he turned to Naruto. "And I don't get why you care if they hate us or not. They would just annoy all of us. Trust me, I know from Temari and Sakura," Gaara told Naruto.

"Hinata's not annoying though," Shikamaru told him. Gaara glared at him.

"Well if you like girls so much, why don't you go marry one?" he asked.

"Yuck, no way," Shikamaru said sitting up and sticking out his tongue. Chouji and Naruto laughed.

"I don't think you have a choice Shikamaru, you already have cooties from talking to Hinata all the time and I know you like Gaara's sister," Chouji said. Shikamaru turned red.

"I do not!" he yelled lying back down.

"That's grows, why would you like my sister?" Gaara asked disgusted.

"I don't like her!" Shikamaru told him still yelling and turning redder.

"Whatever," Gaara said going back to drawing while Naruto and Chouji continued to laughed.

Soon school was over for the day and Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, Chouji, Temari, and Kankuro were sitting out in the front of the school like they did every day. Shikamaru was trying his best to stay away from Temari and Gaara kept sending him glares every time he would look over at her. The six kids sat there talking waiting for Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's uncle. But as they waited Ino walked towards them and stopped beside Naruto. "So," she said. "How are the flowers?" Naruto sat there blinking in confusion. But then a smile went across his face as he remembered what she was talking about.

"They're doing fine," he told her grinning. "The little green things are starting to open." Ino smiled.

"That's good, I thought you might have killed them by now," she told him. Naruto shook his head.

"I want to see what they look like," he said.

"Ok well, just keep them in the sun and keep watering them until they bloom. Tell me when they open all the way. I want to see them too," she said happily. Naruto nodded. Then Ino turned and skipped away.

The other kids sat there silent staring at Naruto. He looked at them and his smile faded. "What?" he asked.

"You do realize you just had a whole conversation with Ino, and she didn't say anything bad about you or yell at you, right?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto blinked. He hadn't really noticed at all. In fact he kind of forgot who he was talking to she was being so nice. "Anyways, you should be happy. I'm sure once those flowers bloom and you show them to her she'll be really happy. She might even stop hating you," Shikamaru told him.

"Why would she stop hating me over flowers?" Naruto asked.

"Who cares, she's a girl. Girls are annoying and weird, just be happy," Gaara told him.

"You think I'm annoying and weird?" Temari asked Gaara angrily. Gaara looked up at her.

"No, of cores not, you're my sister," he told her slightly scared. She smiled.

"Good," she said. Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something, but Gaara shot him a look and he went silent.

"Anyways, after Ino it'll just be Sakura," Gaara told Naruto.

"I'm sure Sakura already likes us thanks to you. She just doesn't show it because of Ino," Chouji told him.

"Well then that flower better hurry up so they can both like us and Sakura can stop annoying me," he said. Everyone laughed.


	27. The Blooming of a New Start

The weekend was an uneventful and boring one. Naruto spent most of his time helping his uncle, Iruka, around the house while his dad was off in meetings. When his dad got home he would change into comfortable clothing and watch an hour of TV with Naruto before it was Naruto's bed time. Every day in the morning and before bed Naruto would check up on the flower Ino gave him until Monday morning came. Naruto woke up just before his alarm went off, changed, and ran downstairs. His dad had already left for work and Iruka was already in the kitchen making Naruto breakfast. "You're up early, usually I have to go wake you," Iruka said as he mixed some pancake mix.

"I needed to see the flower, you said I would be opened all the way by today," Naruto said running over to the windowsill that the flower was on.

"I did say that, and it is. I just watered it so it should be good while we're at school," Iruka told him.

"I need to take it to school with me today," Naruto told him reaching to pick it up. Iruka stopped him.

"Hold on, let it sit there while we eat so it can get the sunlight from the sunrise, and during breakfast we'll talk about this," he said. Naruto nodded and sat down at the table.

Iruka and Naruto talked about the flower. Iruka didn't think it was a good idea to bring it to school with him in case something happened to it, but Naruto wouldn't let up. He told Iruka Ino wanted to see it when it was open fully and that he had to bring it to show her. It took a while, but Iruka finally agreed to let Naruto take if he let him drive him to school with it. Naruto didn't really want to have people see him getting a ride to school by one of the teachers, but in the end he agreed to if they went early.

Naruto left a note on the door for Shikamaru and Chouji so when they got there they wouldn't wait for him. Then he got in Iruka's car and got a ride to school for the first time in a while. When they got to the school there wasn't really anyone there yet. The only people around were the older kids and some teachers. Iruka walked Naruto to his classroom, but it was empty. "You can sit with me for a bit in my class," Iruka told him. Naruto didn't seem too into the idea, but he didn't want to be alone either. So he followed his uncle to the, grade four class.

When they got there the door was already open and there were some kids sitting in the room waiting. Iruka walked into the classroom smiling. "It's a nice day, you kids could be out playing," he told the five kids in the room. Naruto got through the door and took a closer look at them. Neji, Hinata, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were sitting in the back on the top of desks and the shelves talking while doing their own things.

"You always tell us to go out and play in the mornings," Kankuro said as he sat on a desk with his back to teacher playing with some kind of doll.

"Yes, well it has been nice out," Iruka told him. No one said anything.

From the back shelf Temari looked up from the book she was reading and started to wave. "Naruto, come sit!" she yelled smiling. Naruto walked slowly over to the group as they turned to look at him. Gaara had been drawing, and Neji had been playing a game of ticktacktoe with Hinata.

"Why are you here so early and where are the other two boys?" Neji asked.

"I, uh, got a ride to school today," Naruto told him as he sat down on the shelf by Temari.

"From whom?" he asked. Neji and Hinata were the only ones in the room that didn't know about Iruka being Naruto's uncle. "And why did you come into the classroom Iruka?" Neji continued. Naruto looked at the other three but they just shrugged.

"I got driven by my uncle," Naruto told him.

"And your uncle is Iruka?" Neji asked. Naruto sighed and nodded. Neji was one of the smartest kids in the school. His and Shikamaru's IQs almost matched. Naruto knew he would figure it out with only those few hints. "Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Neji asked.

"Naruto didn't want anyone knowing," Gaara told him.

"D-don't worry Naruto, Neji a-and I w-won't tell a-anyone," Hinata told him in her nerves voice, and then glanced over to Neji. Neji nodded. Naruto smiled at them.

"Thanks guys," he said.

Soon the bell rang and it was time to go to class. Temari, Gaara, Naruto, and Hinata left the, grade four class and headed to their classrooms. Gaara, Naruto, and Hinata walked in the opposite direction of Temari down the hallway. She had to go a few rooms over to the, grade five classroom while they had to go down to the other end of the hall. "So you guys are always this early?" Naruto asked. They nodded.

"Hinata's become good friends with me and Shikamaru," Gaara told him. Hinata turned a little red and looked at her feet. "Anyways, is that the flower Ino gave you?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, I think she'll finally stop bugging us after this," Naruto said with a smile.

"Good, then Sakura can stop bugging me," he said. Naruto laughed.

"She might stop, or she'll keep doing it because she wants to see your drawings," he told him. Gaara just sighed.

Naruto, Gaara, and Hinata got to their classroom and took their seats. Shikamaru and Sasuke were already at the table they shared with Hinata, and the three started talking almost instantly after Hinata sat down. Chouji was still alone at his table, and so were Naruto and Gaara. So Chouji got up and sat down with them. Naruto put the flower on the table in front of him, but then picked it up and went over to the window. "Where are you going now?" Chouji asked.

"I need to put this in the sun," Naruto told him. Gaara and Chouji got up went over to the window with him.

"So you need to stand here with it?" Gaara asked.

"Only until class starts, you know how it gets in here when Kakashi's gone. It could get wrecked," Naruto told him. Chouji and Gaara sighed, but stood with him so he wouldn't be lonely.

When everyone got to the class it got noisy and everyone started goofing off like usual. Shino and Kiba had dragged Hinata away from Shikamaru and Sasuke and were talking with her at a table away from theirs. Ino and Sakura were sitting at the table with Sasuke and Shikamaru, but were completely ignoring Shikamaru. Finally Shikamaru got annoyed with them, and could see Sasuke was too, so he brought up that he saw Naruto come into the room with a flower. Ino got excited and dragged Sakura off towards Chouji, Gaara and Naruto. They pushed Chouji and Gaara out of the way. The two boys got mad and went and sat down at a table.

Naruto blinked in confusion. He hadn't noticed the two girls come up to him. He was busy watching people running towards the school from out the window. "So you brought the flower to show me?" Ino asked Naruto. Naruto nodded. She pushed him out of the way and looked at it. "Why did you bring it to the school when it could have gotten wrecked?" she asked.

"You told me you wanted to see it," he told her. Sakura wasn't paying attention anymore; she was too busy watching Sasuke. "And I got a ride and made sure nothing happened to it when I brought it," Naruto continued.

"But, why's it on the windowsill when you know how our class gets?" Ino asked.

"Because I thought it should be in the sun, and I was watching it," Naruto told her. Ino smiled and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Those are the exact answers a florist in training wants to here!" she yelled happily. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to her and Naruto. "You're not so bad after all!" she told him and then went to her table dragging Sakura with her.

"Good job Naruto!" Chouji yelled from his seat. Naruto turned and looked at him. He hadn't noticed anything going on in the classroom.

"I guess that means you guys are ok to deal with now," Kiba said grinning. "Not that I wasn't dealing with you already." Naruto finally had his whole grade, and some of the older kids, liking him and his friends. Now all they had to do is figure out what's wrong with Itachi Uchiha.


	28. Just a Prank?

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari sat on the front lawn of the school like they always did at the end of the day. There wasn't really anything out of the ordinary going on as they talked. Not even when Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari's uncle pulled up to the sidewalk and they hopped into the car saying bye to their friends. It wasn't until a little bit after the car had turned the corner and disappeared that something unusual happened.

Naruto stood up, and brushed the grass off of him that had been thrown at him. The six kids had had another grass fight and Naruto hadn't bothered to brush it off until the last minute. "Are you guys going to get up or not? I want to get home," Naruto told Shikamaru and Chouji as he picked the last bits of grass off his shirt.

"It's too troublesome to get up," Shikamaru said yawning. He was staring up at the clouds.

"You say that every day," Naruto said pouting. "Then we have to sit here and wait for you to be ready." Shikamaru sighed.

"Alright, I'll get up," he reached out a hand to Chouji, who had gotten up once he noticed Naruto was up, and Chouji pulled him to his feet.

"Why do you want to leave so soon anyways?" Chouji asked turning to Naruto now.

"My dad's getting home early today so he can spend time with me. He's been busy lately," Naruto told him grinning.

"Well we better get going than," Shikamaru said turning away from his friends and heading toward the sidewalk.

Once the boys got to the sidewalk and took a few steps Naruto stopped. He turned around and looked toward the school and up the road confused. Shikamaru sighed. "What now?" he asked stopping and turning around, his arms crossed.

"Someone just called my name," Naruto told him still looking around.

"I didn't hear anything," Chouji told him looking around too now.

"Naruto you're just imagining things. Now come on, aren't you the one who said you wanted to get home early?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto turned around and put a finger against his own lips.

"Shush, listen," he said. The three boys went quite. A few seconds later they heard someone yelling from up the road, and they were yelling Naruto's name. "You hear now?" Naruto asked turning back to Shikamaru and Chouji. They nodded. "I wonder who it is," he said taking a step in the direction of the shouting.

"I don't think you should go Naruto. It could be a prank. You should get Iruka first," Shikamaru told him. Naruto shook his head.

"He's busy," he told him. Iruka's car was still parked by the school, and Naruto knew that meant he was still busy marking something in his classroom. Iruka always tried to get as much work done as he could at school before he went home because Naruto was usually a distraction for him, and today he could stay longer knowing that Minato would be home soon.

Naruto's name came again from up the road. He looked up it, but didn't see anyone. "Come on, let's go look," Naruto said taking a few more steps forward before looking back to see if the other two boys were following. "I said come on," he told them.

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Shikamaru told him. Naruto sighed.

"We'll just go up to the corner and look around it to see who it is, and if it's a prank we'll run back to the school and I promise I'll get Iruka," he told him. Shikamaru just stood there with his arms crossed. Naruto looked at him, shrugged and headed up the road at a faster pace not stopping to look back this time. Chouji and Shikamaru looked at each other and then at Naruto as someone called him again. Shikamaru sighed and ran to catch up to the other boy with Chouji close behind.

When they got to the end of the road they stopped. Naruto crouched as low as he could go, Chouji stayed standing, and Shikamaru went on his toes as they looked around the corner. The yelling had stopped and there was no one around. The three boys stayed staring around the corner for a few seconds before a voice came from behind them.

"Hey guys," the voice said. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji jumped and turned around. Kiba, with Akamaru on his head, was standing with Shino looking at the three boys with a confused look on his face. "What were you doing?" he asked.

"We were looking for the person that was calling me," Naruto said. "Was it you guys?"

"No," Kiba told him.

"Well did you see who was calling me?" Naruto asked disappointed. Kiba shook his head.

"We were in the store and Shino saw you out the window just standing there looking around the corner, so we came out," he told him still confused about the situation. "And I thought you guys lived over there." He pointed to the other end of the road.

"We do, Naruto was just freaking out about someone calling him so he made us come all the way over here," Shikamaru told him with a sigh.

"I wasn't freaking out!" Naruto yelled. "I just wanted to know who it was!"

"Well, we didn't see anyone. Are you sure someone was calling you?" Shino asked. Naruto jumped slightly. He wasn't expecting Shino say anything.

"Yes I'm sure! They heard it too!" Naruto told him, still yelling, as he pointed to his two friends behind him.

"I told you it was a prank," Shikamaru said. "I told you, but you didn't listen. The person must have seen us coming and hid somewhere." Naruto pouted.

"I wanted to see who it was since they kept yelling for me!" he told him.

"Can we go now?" Chouji asked out of nowhere. Naruto nodded.

"Tell me if you see anything or anyone?" Naruto asked Kiba and Shino. They nodded and said goodbye. Then the three boys headed back the way they came.

When Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji got back by the school they turned to see Iruka coming out of the building. "There you are!" he yelled in an angry and relieved voice. "What were you doing all the way over there?! Your father is so worried about you! He called me and asked if you were still at the school! When I looked out the window and never saw you I told him no! Then he called me back a few minutes later asking if I was sure! We thought something happened to you!" He had an angry look on his face and was glaring down at Naruto.

"We got distracted by something," Naruto told him not wanting to get in anymore trouble or punished. "We were on our way home as soon as Gaara left, I promise!" Iruka sighed.

"You're always getting distracted. Your teachers say it, your friends say it, your dad says it, and I say it. You need to learn to pay attention to what you're doing at that moment without getting distracted and doing something else," he told him his expression changing to his normal one now. "Anyways, everyone get into the car. I'll drive you all home." The boys nodded and climbed in after Iruka unlocked it.

"Why didn't you tell him about the person yelling your name?" Shikamaru asked in a whisper.

"Because I didn't want to worry him, I'll tell him later. I promise," Naruto told him with a smile. Shikamaru just sighed and Iruka got into the car and drove away from the school.


	29. A Close Call

Everyday since then Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji would hear someone calling Naruto's name after school right after Gaara and his siblings left. The second day they heard it Shikamaru and Chouji finally convinced Naruto it wasn't a good idea to go looking for the person calling him anymore since every time they got close to the yelling it stopped and no one was around. Naruto still hadn't told Iruka or Minato about the person yelling his name every day after school, and his excuse was that he didn't want to worry them. But Shikamaru and Chouji soon stopped bugging him to tell his dad and uncle because once the person realized Naruto wasn't going to go looking for who it was anymore they stopped. The three boys decided that it was probably just some prank someone in a different class was pulling on them. But even though they said that they were now being extra cautious just in case.

It was Friday now and the second day the person had not called Naruto's name. Gaara and his siblings had just left with their uncle and Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji were heading up the road to the candy store like every Friday. When they got there they were greeted with Kiba, Shino, and Hinata who were just coming out of the story. Naruto was about to open the door to go in when Kiba suddenly stopped him. "I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but Sasuke's brother and his friends are in there and they were asking us about you," Kiba whispered to him as Naruto pulled the door open.

"What did they ask?" Naruto whispered back. But Kiba just shook his head and ran off down the road with Shino and Hinata.

Naruto was now standing in the doorway frozen. He didn't know if he wanted to go in anymore or not. "What are you waiting for, go in," Chouji said impatiently. He and Shikamaru hadn't heard what Kiba had told him. Naruto guessed it was ok to go in since there was an adult in there working, and with a sigh went through the door.

It was true what Kiba had said. Itachi and his friends were walking around the store looking at everything, but mainly just waiting for Naruto to show. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji had to duck behind things whenever they thought they were about to be seen. They knew it wouldn't last for long and they'd be spotted as soon as they went to pay at the counter, so they got what they wanted and waited for the lady to total it up. While they were paying Kisame was the first to spot them and called the others over loudly. Even thought it was obvious that the three other boys had heard Kisame yelling, he, Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara hid behind one of the shelves and waited for them to pay. Once Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji were done and heading to the door, the other four boys followed.

As soon and Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji had gotten on the other side of the door they broke into a run towards the school. Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara didn't notice it at first, but once they did they were running too and right behind the boys. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji knew they'd never be able to outrun Itachi and his friends. They were bigger than them so they had longer legs and could run farther faster. But even knowing this the three boys didn't stop until they had gotten to the school park where they couldn't run anymore and hid under the playground equipment. They were using Itachi and his friend's size to their advantage, the other boys wouldn't be able to fit under there like Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji could unless they dug the sand out. And even then the space was so small and cramped that they wouldn't be able to do anything.

Itachi and his friends got to where Naruto and his friends were hiding only a few second after them. They got down onto their stomachs in the sand and looked under what turned out to be a very low bridge. "What are you doing under there?" Itachi asked. The boys didn't say anything. "You know, you should really come out. You'll get all sandy down there and your parents probably won't like that," he told them.

"We're not coming out with you here!" Naruto yelled at him.

"And whys that?" Deidara asked. He was sitting on top the bridge looking through the cracks at them. He didn't want to get his long hair full of sand, or his clothing.

"Deidara, get down here like the rest of us!" Sasori yelled at him. Deidara looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Why? I'll just get sand all over myself like you guys. I'd prefer to stay clean, thank you," he told him. Sasori just sighed angrily rolling his eyes.

"You're going to do something to us if we try to come out," Shikamaru said answering Deidara's question and watching the other boys carefully.

"And why would we want to do something to you?" Itachi asked.

"Because, you're bullies and that's what bullies do!" Naruto yelled.

"I don't think yelling at the people who have the advantage right now is a good thing," Kisame told him smirking.

"How do you have the advantage?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, you can't get at us," Chouji pointed out. Itachi laughed.

"We might not be able to get at you now. But you guys will have to come out sometime, and sooner than we'll have to leave," he told them. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji looked at each other. It was true. They had a time they needed to be home at or else they'd get in trouble. And Naruto didn't want his dad, or Iruka to come looking for him. If they found him like he was now they'd worry about him and not let him do anything alone anymore. That was the main reason he hadn't told them about the person calling his name, or about being bullied at school for the past few years.

As the three boys sat there trying to figure out a way to escape, they heard someone yelling for Itachi. Itachi stood up and wiped the sand off his clothes. "What do you want now Sasuke?" he asked angrily.

"Mom says she wants you home," Sasuke said as he got closer. "She told me to come find you."

"I'll be home in a few minutes," Itachi told him. "Tell mom you couldn't find me." Sasuke shook his head.

"How about I tell mom that you wouldn't listen to me and told me to leave you alone?" he asked. Itachi didn't say anything for a few seconds, he just glared at Sasuke.

"You wouldn't do that, because if you did you know what would happen to you. Besides, mom will believe me over you," he told him smirking. Sasuke shook his head again.

"Not after what happened last time she won't. She doesn't trust you anymore," he told him.

"So you've been telling on me?" he asked. Sasuke nodded. "Fine, I'll go," Itachi said angrily and stormed off.

Deidara watched Itachi walk away, and then looked down at Sasori and Kisame. "Want to go find something else to do that doesn't involve getting dirty?" he asked. Sasori and Kisame stood up nodding.

"What about us?" Naruto asked being curious again, although it probably wasn't a good idea.

"Who cares about you guys?" Kisame asked. Naruto didn't say anything. "Well we sure don't," Kisame told him. Sasori and Deidara nodded.

"All this was Itachi's idea. Now that he's not here we don't have to go along with it anymore," Deidara said shrugging. "I don't know what's gotten into him. But he told us if we didn't help bully you guys he'd find some other people and get them to bully you guys _and_ us." Sasori and Kisame nodded.

"Picking on kids half your size isn't even fun," Sasori said as they started walking away.

"Oh, be on the lookout for us, Itachi still has a bunch of plans! And they aren't stupid ones like calling your name!" Deidara yelled back at them.

"Hey, that was my idea!" Kisame yelled.

"Well it wasn't a very good one," Sasori told him, and then they ran off.

Sasuke sighed and sat down on the bridge as Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji climbed out from under it still confused about everything that had just happened. Naruto sat down beside Sasuke while the other two boys brushed themselves off. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked over at him.

"I lied about my mom wanting to talk to Itachi, and telling on him. Once he finds out he'll be so mad at me he'll probably start picking on me more than of you guys," he told him.

"So you risked yourself to help us?" Shikamaru asked in shock. Sasuke nodded.

"I probably shouldn't go home now, but I have to," he told him. The four boys sat there quietly for a moment before a huge grin went across Naruto's face.

"Why don't you sleepover at my house?" he asked knowing that Iruka and his dad wouldn't mind if he had a friend over. After all it wasn't often that he wanted one there. Sasuke went wide-eyed.

"Why would you let me do that? I've bullied, and sometimes ignored you, since kindergarten. I don't have a right to sleepover at your house," Sasuke told him. Naruto laughed a little.

"But you even said that you didn't really mean it all, and you said sorry, and you just saved us from your own older brother. So we forgive you and you can sleep over now," Naruto told him matter-of-factly.

"Are you really sure about this?" he asked. Naruto nodded, and Sasuke sighed. "Thanks, but I don't have any clothes to wear tomorrow," he said sadly.

"You can borrow some of my clothes," Naruto told him. Sasuke's mood went from sad to happy in an instant, and he agreed to sleepover. And with that the four boys headed up the street towards their homes.

* * *

**Ok everyone, just a heads up. The next chapter is either going to be pretty long and going to be the last one, or I'll be making two normalish length chapters. I've had a great time writing this story, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Have fun reading the last 1-2 chapters :)**


	30. Things Will Change

"I don't care, Naruto! He can't sleepover without getting his parents' permission!" Iruka yelled. Friday's always put Iruka in a bad mood because he spent the whole day trying to get his class to listen to him, and he wasn't able to cool down yet because Minato wasn't home to take some things off his hands.

"Well why can't we just use the phone and call now to ask?" Naruto asked his Uncle calmly. He was a little confused as to why Iruka was so angry, but it didn't bother him as much as it use to.

"Because this should have been discussed a few days ago, not being planned last minute so we can scramble around!" Iruka told him getting really annoyed now.

"But Gaara stayed over last minute, and if Sasuke can't stay over than someone will haveto drive him home because it's almost dark out now," Naruto told him in a pleading tone. Iruka threw his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Fine, go ask than! But if he can't I'm not driving him home, his mom can come get him, and you better stay in your room and be quiet while I work and make dinner!" he told Naruto storming off. A grin went across Naruto's face as he turned to Sasuke. Sasuke looked like he was having second thoughts on staying over now.

"You should go call your mom now," Naruto told him. Sasuke just nodded and followed Naruto over to the phone.

Sasuke dialled the number to his house and waited while it rang. Finally on the last ring someone answered. "Hello?" the person asked. Sasuke froze for a moment. The voice wasn't his mothers or his fathers. It was one of a young boy. Sasuke swallowed hard.

"Itachi, where's mom?" Sasuke asked sounding a little scared.  
"You want to know where mom is. Did you know she wasn't looking for me like you said? She was actually kind of surprised that I was home early," Itachi told him sounding very calm as if he was acting.  
"Where is she Itachi?" Sasuke asked again.  
"Oh I don't know. In the kitchen making dinner, or out looking for you,"  
"Well where's dad?"  
"Where he usually is,"  
"Can you go get one of them so I can talk to them?"  
"Why?"  
"Because I need to,"  
"Well just tell me and I'll tell them,"  
"No, get mom or dad to take the phone,"  
"No,"  
"Itachi get mom or dad to take the phone! Where are they? Why did you answer?" Sasuke was now not only scared but getting angry. There was now silence on the other end of the line. "Itachi, are you getting mom and dad?"  
"No,"  
"Why not, why are you doing this to me?!"  
"Come home and I'll tell you,"  
"No, I'm staying at a friend's house all weekend! Tell mom and dad I'm staying at a friend's house all weekend!"  
"No, come home,"  
"I'm not coming home with you there!" Sasuke practically screamed this into the phone and then slammed it down hanging up on his brother.

Naruto stood there silently for a few moments as he watched his new friend fall to the ground crying. Naruto didn't know what to do anymore, so he just went and sat down beside Sasuke. Iruka, who was in the kitchen, had heard all the yelling and was now rushing into the room the two boys were in. "What's wrong?" he asked sounding very worried and crouched down in front of the two boys.

"Sasuke's brother's a jerk," Naruto told his Uncle. Iruka sighed.

"So he's staying over then?" he asked. Naruto nodded. Iruka put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke looked up at him. "I'll call your parents again later and tell them you're here, ok?" he asked. Sasuke nodded and whipped his eyes. "Good, now you boys go upstairs until dinners ready," he told them. The two boys nodded and Naruto stood up.

"Come on Sasuke, my room has video games in it," he told him grinning and reaching out his hand. Sasuke gave a small smile, grabbed Naruto's hand, and followed him upstairs.

Iruka called Sasuke's mom, using the phone number the boy had given him, while Naruto and Sasuke ate dinner. But a young boy, Iruka guessed it was Sasuke's brother, answered the phone. When Iruka asked to talk to one of the adults in the house the boy said they were busy. Irukademanded that the boy givethe phone to his mother or father, otherwise he'd be calling back every ten minutes until they could speak to him. The boy on the other end of the line was hesitant, but eventually gave the phone to his mom. Sasuke's mom and Iruka talked for a few minutes about what was going on. Apparently Itachi hadn't said anything to his mom about Sasuke being over at Naruto's house, even though he said he would, and she had been in a panicked state for the past few minutes worrying about where her son was. Finally Sasuke's mom agreed to let Sasuke stay with Iruka and Naruto for the weekend figuring since he was there anyways he might as well say. She was just glad he was ok. After Sasuke's mom and Iruka were done talking Iruka heard Sasuke's mom start to yell at Itachi for not telling her anything as she hung up the phone. Then he went back into the kitchen and told Sasuke and Naruto the good news about Sasuke being able to stay over.

Naruto was very excited to hear that Sasuke would be able to stay the whole weekend. Sasuke didn't seem as happy about it though. He was feeling home sick already, and he didn't really know Naruto that well so it felt weird. But even so he made the best of it. Naruto gave him clothes and pyjama's to wear, and they spent most of their time playing video games and watching TV with Iruka and Minato. There wasn't a food fight like when Gaara was over though, and Naruto was half grateful for that. He didn't want his new friend to know how crazy he and his family were just yet.

The weekend ended and it was time for the two boys to go back to school. Naruto got up late again on Monday morning. Sasuke had already been up for an hour, and was eating breakfast with all his stuff ready to go when Naruto came down in his pyjamas. "Naruto, you're late getting up again! Go up stairs and change before you eat breakfast!" Iruka yelled at Naruto pushing him back towards the stairs.

"Again, why didn't you and Sasuke wake me up?" Naruto demanded.

"We tried, but you just wouldn't get up so we just gave up on you knowing you'd wake up eventually," Iruka told him. "And you better hurry up, you're making your friends late for school too you know."

"Why don't they just go without me? You can drive me after breakfast!" Naruto yelled from the top of the stairs as Iruka walked away back into the kitchen.

"You know they won't go without you unless they're sure you're going to school!" Iruka yelled back at him. Naruto sighed and slammed the door to his bedroom.

He and Sasuke raced out of the house a few minutes later to meet Shikamaru and Chouji. "You know you could have gone ahead of me," Naruto told Sasuke, slightly out of breath, as they reached the other two boys. Sasuke just shrugged.

"I don't really know my way around here anyways," he said. Shikamaru shook his head as they approached him and Chouji.

"Why do you always have to be late?" he asked sounding a little annoyed.

"Because I like to sleep," Naruto told him crossing his arm.

"Well it's really troublesome," he said with a sigh and then turned to Sasuke. "Ready for a little run?" he asked not sound too happy that the boy was there. Sasuke didn't really know what was going on, but he nodded anyways. "Ok guys, let's try to get to the school in record time than," Shikamaru told him. Naruto and Chouji nodded, and the three of them started racing down the street. Sasuke didn't really know what was going on for a second, but started running after them following closely so he didn't get lost.

When they got to the school no one was around and school had started about fifteen minutes before they got there. Sasuke was out of breath and felt like he couldn't run anymore, but he pushed himself forward. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji didn't look like they were too tried, and Sasuke guessed it was because they had to run this far almost every day.

The four of them burst through the school front doors and down the hallways to their calls room. When they got there the door was open and they ran into the room before stopping from seeing Kakashi standing at the front of the room. He looked away from the rest of the class towards the four out of breath boys. One of which, Sasuke, looked like he was about to collapse. Kakashi smiled. "Well it's nice of you four to join us. I see Sasuke is with you this time. Did you just go along for exorcise or did you want to see what took the other three so long every day?" he asked in a sweet voice. The class turned to see Sasuke with his hands on his knees panting while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji whipped sweat from their faces. "Anyways, come in and sit down before Sasuke faints or something," Kakashi told them. Sasuke managed to stand back up straight, and the four boys moved to their seats. "After you've rested I suggest you go get drinks, and then you'll all be having your mini math tests," he told the class. Everyone groaned, but Kakashi just smiled and went back to what he was talking about before the class was interrupted.

It was lunch recess and Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Chouji were enjoying sitting in the sun for the first time all day. Kakashi had made Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Sasuke stay inside for their first recess because of how late they had been, and Gaara had chosen to stay in with them not wanting to be alone outside or with his older siblings.

Shikamaru sighed as he lay on the hill watching the clouds go by. "You making us late is starting to be troublesome, Naruto," he said yawning.

"Starting to be?" Chouji asked. "It's always been troublesome. We have to run to school every day and it makes me really hungry. Then I'm eating all day."

"You'd be eating all day anyways," Gaara told him in a very quiet tone that everyone had to strain to hear. Gaara was very concentrated on his drawing and when he was like that he often said things he didn't mean to, but in a very hard to hear voice, out of annoyance of people talking. Chouji shrugged.

"That's true," he said not seeming to be offended by the comment at all. "Although after a good morning run it's hard to be fully satisfied when you're done eating." Naruto looked at his friend and blinked, but didn't say anything.

After a few short minutes of sitting quietly, Naruto looked into the distance at the school and could see someone coming towards them. As the person got closer he noticed it was Sasuke. At first Naruto just thought he was going over to the soccer match to ask them to let him play, but when he didn't stop at Ino and Sakura calling to him Naruto wondered where he was go. After a few short seconds he got him answer when Sasuke sat done beside him.

At fist Sasuke just sat there watching the confused Ino and Sakura as they went racing back to the field with an angry Kiba yelling at them for letting the other team score. Then he turned to Naruto. "I don't want to go home today," he said plainly jumping right to the point. Naruto looked at him a little confused for a second before answering.

"Well you can't stay at my house for the rest of your life," he told him. "You're going to have to go home."

"But I don't want to, can't you convince your uncle and dad to let me stay with you guys. I'll tell my mom and dad that I'm not going home until Itachi moves out, or we can tell them I died on the way home," Sasuke told him in a whine.

"Sorry for butting in on this," Shikamaru said. "But I'm pretty sure your parents would wonder where the body was if Narutotold them you died. And I'm also pretty sure it's against the law to live away from your parents at this age." Sasuke glance over at him glaring and then looked back at Naruto. Gaara looked up from his drawing very interested on the subject they were on. They had told him what had happened over the weekend, so he wasn't too shocked to hear Sasuke talking the way he was.

"If it's a body they need we could give them one," Gaara said. "Instead of just having you stay over at Naruto's we could actually kill you. Than there'd be a body, and you wouldn't have to be around your brother anymore." The other four boys gave him a look. "What, it was just a suggestion," he told them.

"It would be good, except for the fact that we'd all be charged with murder and have to go to a kid's jail house," Shikamaru told him.

"They have those?" Naruto asked going wide-eyed. Shikamaru nodded. "Wow, that's kind of scary knowing there are kids that bad out there," he said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Anyways, I still don't want to go anywhere Itachi is. And if I have to run away from home that's what I'll do. I don't care anymore. Why did he change?" Sasuke asked his eyes starting to water. He rubbed them, and then pulled his knees up and hid his face in them.

"You're not going to know unless you go home and ask him," Naruto told him. Sasuke shook his head. "You have to. Maybe he's forgotten about everything. It's been a whole weekend," Naruto told him trying to encourage him. Naruto heard Sasuke sniff.

"I'll go home today, but if he's being a jerk I'm not going to go back tomorrow," he said standing up and whipping his eyes on his sleeve. "Now I have to go before people start coming over and bugging us." Naruto watched as Sasuke walked away back towards the school.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro sat on the front lawn of the school. It was around the time everyone had gone home, and they could now see Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's uncle turning the corner and driving up to the school. The three of them got up, said good bye to the other three and got in the car. Naruto stood up and stretched Chouji getting up shortly after him as Shikamaru just fell back onto the grass and looked up at the sky. "Not this again," Naruto moaned looking down at his friend.

"What, you made me late for school so I'm making you get home later. It's only fair," Shikamaru told him shrugging. Naruto groaned and bent down. He grabbed Shikamaru's hand and tried to pull him up, but he wasn't strong enough. Shikamaru smirked. "Told you you'd have to wait," he said. Naruto sighed and started walking in a circle around his friends.

After about three minute the front doors of the school opened and Sasuke came out. He stopped and looked at the three boys holding the door open, and then turned and ran back into the school. Naruto stood in confusion wondering what Sasuke was still doing at school and why he was running away from them. Chouji pushed Naruto, and Naruto stumbled forwards. "Well go after him, something's obviously wrong if he's running away. Plus he can't run as fast or long as you can," he told him. Naruto nodded and headed for the school.

"Go after who?" he heard Shikamaru yell as he entered the school.

Naruto ran down the halls of the school looking into every open door. When he couldn't find Sasuke in the classrooms he ran around the school looking in all the bathrooms. He finally found Sasuke in the boy's bathroom by their classroom. "What are you still doing here?" Naruto asked him. He stayed standing in the doorway so Sasuke would have to force his way out if he wanted to try and leave. For now he was trapped in.

"I told you I don't want to go home, so I changed my mind about going back today. I'm just going to run away from home instead," Sasuke told him. He backed away to the far corner of the bathroom.

"They'll send the cops after you," Naruto told him.

"I don't care, I'm not going back until I'm forced to," he told him. Naruto sighed.

"I know how you feel, Sasuke, but you're going to have to face him eventually," Naruto told him crossing his arms. Tears filled Sasuke's eyes.

"How could you know how I feel?" Sasuke yelled at him letting the tears fall down his face. "You can't know! You don't have an older brother!"

"I may not have an older brother, but I know what it feels like to be bullied the way he's bulling you!" Naruto screamed at him. "Or did you forget that Shikamaru, Chouji, and I have been bullied by you and your friends for years?" He was angry that Sasuke would think that he had no idea what he was going through. It was like he'd forgotten about everything Sasuke use to do to him and was just putting his problems first like they were way worse than what Naruto had gone through.

Sasuke slid down the wall. He felt bad that Naruto and his friends being bullied by him and almost the whole school had slipped his mind. Naruto did know what he was going through even if he didn't have a brother who was doing it. "I can't believe you'd forget something like that! People have only just started to stop bullying us, and most of it's because Gaara and his brother and sister came to this school! If they didn't come everything would still be the same as it was before!" Naruto was still screaming at Sasuke and tears were running down his own face now.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said sniffing. Naruto could barely hear him though because his face was in his knees now. Naruto tooka deep breath and whipped his eyes with his sleeve. He blinked a few times before saying anything to Sasuke again. This time he said it calmly.

"Why don't I go with you to talk to Itachi?" he asked. Sasuke looked up at Naruto. "I had friends with me to help with the bullying, you're alone. Having someone else with you helps," Naruto told him. Sasuke nodded and Naruto walked over to him and put out a hand. Sasuke grabbed it and Naruto helped him up.

When the two boys got back outside Shikamaru and Chouji were still on the front lawn waiting for Naruto. "Oh, this is who you told him to go after," Shikamaru stated with an uninterested tone.

"You guys can go, I'm going with Sasuke over to his house," Naruto told his two friends. Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at Naruto.

"Why are you going over there?" he asked. "Won't your uncle wonder where you are?" Naruto shook his head.

"I have to help him with Itachi, and I told my uncle I was going to be late going home because I was going to Sasuke's," he told him.

"Well than we're going too," Chouji told him firmly. "We can be late going home, it's not like we haven't before. Besides, we're a team." Shikamaru nodded.

"Our parents know if we're late it's your fault by now," he told him shrugging. Naruto smiled.

"Is it ok if they come too?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Sasuke nodded. "Alright guys, let's go stand up to Itachi!" Naruto yelled and started to run down the street. Shikamaru sighed.

"Why does everything involve running with him?" he asked. "He doesn't even know where Sasuke lives." Chouji shrugged and the other three started running after the boy.

The four of them got to Sasuke's house and Sasuke opened the door. "Hello? Mom, dad, I'm home!" Sasuke yelled into the house. But it wasn't an adult's voice that answered. It was a voice that all four of the boys in the doorway knew. It was the voice of Sasuke's brother Itachi.

"Mom and dad aren't home right now. They went out shopping," he said as he walked into the front room where the four boys were. He smiled evilly when he saw them. "I see you have some friends over. Maybe I should get my friends over too and we can have some fun. Well fun for me and my friends anyways," he said smirking. "But first I think I'll tell mom and dad about your friend being over. You know you can't have friends in the house when they're not home."

"I didn't know they weren't home!" Sasuke yelled at him.

"Oh really, I thought I told you they weren't going to be home at lunch. You must have forgotten. Nonetheless, you have friends over when mom and dad aren't home and that needs to be punished. Also, I 'accidently' knocked down mom's favourite vase and broke it. We'll just tell her you and your friends did it and didn't clean it up?" Itachi asked, although it was more of a statement than a question. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few called to make." Itachi started to walk away.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Sasuke screamed from the door. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji just stood there staring. They didn't know what to do. If they tried to help they might only get Sasuke in more trouble. Itachi laughed.

"You asked that a few days ago too!" he yelled. He was now halfway down the hallway. Sasuke screamed tears filling his eyes and started charging at Itachi. Naruto tried to grab him before he did anything stupid, but wasn't fast enough.

Sasuke ran into Itachi knocking him to the ground, and punched him once in the back before Itachi rolled over knocking his little brother off and pinning him to the ground by sitting on him. Sasuke broke out crying hard and loudly. Naruto and his friend ran into the house closing the door behind them and stopping in front of the siblings. "What are you three still doing here? Leave before Sasuke gets into anymore trouble," Itachi said coldly. Naruto clenched his fist.

"Why are you doing this to him? He's your younger brother. You should be protecting him not trying to hurt him!" Naruto screamed.

"Because, he deserves it," Itachi told him. "I'm sure you three would agree with me after what he's done."

"He hasn't done anything that we know of," Shikamaru told him. He was way calmer about everything than Sasuke and Naruto.

"Yeah, what's going on with you?" Chouji asked. The three boys had way more courage to speak up to Itachi knowing his friends weren't around, and that he was busy trying to hold Sasuke down.

"Well if this little brat would stop crying I'd tell you!" he yelled down at Sasuke.

"Get off of me!" Sasuke screamed. Itachi got up. Sasuke scrambled to a sitting position and pushed himself against the hallway wall away from Itachi. He whipped his eyes on his shirt and glared at his older brother.

Itachi moved against the opposite wall from Sasuke to show that he wasn't going anywhere and that he wasn't going to do anything. Then he looked at the other three boys. "Why are you here anyways?" he asked in a calm tone like nothing had happened.

"Answer our question first," Naruto told him. Itachi laughed.

"How about you answer my question and I'll consider answering yours," he told them. Naruto opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"They came to help me with you because you're being a jerk!" Sasuke yelled at his brother. Itachi sighed.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a little brat I wouldn't have to be a jerk to you," he said.

"We still don't understand what's going on here," Shikamaru told Itachi. Itachi sighed again out of annoyance.

"What's going on is I'm teacher Sasuke a lesson," he told them.

"What does he need a lesson for?" Chouji asked as Naruto went over and sat beside Sasuke to calm himself down.

"I've been a nice brother to Sasuke ever since he was a baby. I've played with him and I've helped him with things in hopes he'd learn from me and turn into a good kid. Right before kindergarten I even told him that he'd better be a good kid and be nice to everyone and talk to everyone, not just the kids he became friends with. I told him that he wasn't allowed to bully anyone, and if someone was being bullied that he needed to be nice to them and not follow the other kids that were doing the bullying. I knew what school was like and how though it could be already and hoped he'd listen to me," Itachi told Naruto and his friends. Sasuke stopped glaring and looked away from everyone. They were now all staring at him. "After a few days of your guy's first year I started to learn about how the class had seemed to go against you two," he said pointing at Shikamaru and Chouji. "So I started asking Sasuke about. He didn't say much just that you two weren't liked very much and that Sakura and Ino were turning the rest of the kids in school against you. At that point my friends and I weren't getting involved because you were so young and we thought it would blow over. I reminded Sasuke that he had to be nice to you guys though, but he didn't really say anything."

"Later when Naruto came and he started to hang out with you guys even though you weren't liked by the other kids I knew something was up with Sasuke. He didn't really talk about you guys and I noticed that you were always alone at recess. I was still trying to get Sasuke to be nice to you guys but now he was telling me they there were three of you so you had enough friends," Itachi told him. Naruto stared at Sasuke and moved away from him a little.

"I wasn't bullying them though!" Sasuke yelled. "I did what you said!" Itachi shook his head.

"No you didn't. You did exactly what I didn't want you to do. You turned into one of those people that just stand there and watch the bullying happen never doing anything to help. That's just as bad as actually bullying someone. You didn't care about them at all, all you cared about was making sure the other kids didn't hate you," Itachi told him angrily. Sasuke put his face back in his knees. "I let everything slide for a couple of years hoping that maybe he'd come around, but then Gaara came. Sasuke told me about what Gaara did on his first day, and I hopped that maybe he'd follow Gaara and finally stop caring what people though, but he didn't. Everything was still the same."

"It was then that I decided that the only way to get Sasuke to realize what he was doing was if he went through it himself. So I stopped being the good older brother and started bullying him a little. But when that didn't help I got worse and got my friends involved. By then some people in your class were warming up to you guys thanks to Gaara, but Sasuke still didn't seem to care. So I started getting you guys involved too. I was never going to do any of the things I was saying I was going to do to you guys though, I was just trying to scare you a little. Anyways Sasuke started to break down, but he still wasn't talking to you guys until Naruto went to him first. I could have stopped than, but I knew he wouldn't have learnt anything, so I kept going. Friday might have been too far, but it worked. Sasuke finally came around to you guys fully. And just now was just the finally touch to make sure Sasuke had learnt his lesson."

Itachi leaned back against the wall and looked around at everyone. Naruto and his friends were stunned. They didn't know what to say. Itachi might have just proved to be their best friend trying to stop the bullying, and they never saw it before. "So you put your own brother through all this just to teach him a lesson about being nice to people?" Shikamaru asked. Itachi nodded. "You might have gone a little far don't you think?"

"Maybe, but Sasuke learns from experience not out of books or being taught by someone," Itachi said shrugging.

"So what now, you're just going to act like none of this happened? You're just going to make everything go back to normal?" Naruto asked. "I don't think it's going to be that easy, look what you did to him." He pointed at Sasuke who was looking up at his brother. His eyes were red, his noise was running, and his face was shinning from all the tears.

"Well," Itachi started. "Hopefully Sasukerealizes that I was just teaching him a lesion that was for his own good and he'll forgive me. Because if he does I'll go back to being the brother he liked." Sasuke looked over at Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

"I'm sorry," he told them.

"We forgave you when you first started crying over your brother," Shikamaru told him. Sasuke smiled weakly and turned to his brother

"Thank you," he said.

"Does that mean you've learnt your lesson?" Itachi asked. Sasukenodded. "And you forgive me?" he asked. Sasuke nodded again. "Good, and by the way I didn't break that vase. And I never did tell mom and dad anything to get you in trouble. They did ground me a few times though because of you. In fact I'm grounded right now," he told him laughing. Sasuke smiled at his brother weakly and Itachi stood up. "Tomorrow things will get back to normal with us, I promise," Itachi told Sasuke. "But right now, I need to get back to my room before mom and dad get home. And you need to get your friends out of here." Sasuke nodded and Naruto helped him up. Then they left the house.

The four boys sat in Sasuke's front yard looking out onto the street. "Do you really think Itachi was telling the truth?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Sasuke nodded starting to calm down.

"I'm pretty sure he was. None of this was anything to joke about," Shikamaru said yawning.

"So I guess that means everything's going to change in a good way at school," Chouji said. The other three boys nodded, still processing what had just happened, and Naruto smiled.

"I can't wait," he said thoughtfully leaning back on his hands and looking up at the clouds.

**The End**

**Wow, so it's really over now... I'm sorry if you find the ending really cheesy and anti-climatic, but I was never good at ending stories. But it's the the journey that counts, not the destination, right? ^_^;  
Anyways, I hoped you liked reading this. I sure liked writing it for you guys, and I hope that you'd go and enjoy one of my many other fanfic's that I wrote. Thanks for all the great reviews and staying loyal to the very end, and I hope to hear from you all again.  
-Temari101**


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